
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap... Copyright No. 

Shelf±&..^i 

Srfe 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Victorian Literature 



Births have brought us richness and variety, 
And other births will bring us rich?iess and variety j 
I do not call o?ie greater and one smaller; 
That which Jills its ftei'iod and place is equal to any. 

Walt Whitman. 



Victorian Literature 



Sixty Tears of Books and Bookmen 



BY 



CLEMENT K. SHORTER 

AUTHOR OF " CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER CIRCLE ' 



t 



NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1897 



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Copyright, 1897, 
By Dodd, Mead and Company. 



Mttttattg Press : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

Introductory i 

I The Poets . 5 

II The Novelists 41 

III The Historians 77 

IV The Critics 129 

Index 195 



INTRODUCTORY 

Asked by a kindly publisher to add one more 
to the Jubilee volumes which commemorate the 
sixtieth year of the Queen's reign, I am pleased 
at the opportunity thus afforded me of gather- 
ing up a few impressions of pleasant reading 
hours. " Every age," says Emerson, " must write 
its own books ; or rather, each generation for the 
next succeeding. The books of an older period 
will not fit this." It is true, of course, and as a 
result the popular favourite of to-day is well-nigh 
forgotten to-morrow. In reading the critical 
journals of thirty years ago it is made quite 
clear that they contain few judgments which would 
be sustained by a consensus of critical opinion 
to-day. Whether time will deal as hardly with the 
critical judgments of to-day we may not live to see. 
I have no ambition to put this book to a personal 
test. So far as it has any worth at all it is 
meant to be bibliographical and not critical. It 
aspires to furnish the young student, in handy form, 
with as large a number of facts about books as can 
be concentrated in so small a volume. That this 
has been done under the guise of a consecutive 
A I 



Introductory 

narrative, and not in the form of a dictionary, is 
merely for the convenience of the writer. 

I have endeavoured to say as little as possible 
about living poets and novelists. With the his- 
torians and critics the matter is of less importance. 
To say that Mr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner has 
written a useful history, or that Professor David 
Masson's " Life of Milton " is a valuable contri- 
bution to biographical literature, will excite no 
antagonism. But to attempt to assign Mr. W. B. 
Yeats a place among the poets, or " Mark Ruther- 
ford " a position among the prose writers of the 
day, is to trespass upon ground which it is wiser 
to leave to the critics who write in the literary 
journals from week to week. It was not possible 
to ignore all living writers. I have ignored as 
many as I dared. 

It was my intention at first to devote a chapter 
to Sixty Years of American Literature. But for 
that task an Englishman who has paid but one 
short visit to the United States has no qualifica- 
tion. He can write of American literature only as 
seen through English eyes. That is to see much 
of it, it is true. Few Americans realise the enor- 
mous influence which the literature of their own 
land has had upon this country. Probably the most 
read poet in England during the sixty years has 
been Longfellow. Probably the most read novel 
has been " Uncle Tom's Cabin." Among people 
2 



Introductory 

who claim to be distinctly literary Hawthorne has 
been all but the favourite novelist, Washington 
Irving n^^the least popular of essayists, and 
Emers^B ^k most invigorating moral influence. 
In nfl Mr "The Wide, Wide World" and 
" Q U °B w* were m everybody's hands ; as the 
stories of Bret Harte, William Dean Howells, 
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Frank Stockton, Henry 
James, and Mary Wilkins are to-day. Apart from 
Dickens, nearly all our laughter has come from 
Mark Twain and Artemus Ward. 

In history, we in England have read Prescott 
and Motley ; in poetry we have read W T alt Whit- 
man, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf 
Whittier, and, above all, James Russell Lowell, 
who endeared himself to us alike as a poet, a 
critic, and in his own person when he represented 
the United States at the Court of St. James's. 
Lastly I recall the delight with which as a boy I 
read the " Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," and 
the joy with which as a man I visited the author, 
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his pleasant study 
in Beacon Street, Boston. These and many other 
writers have made America and the Americans 
very dear to Englishmen, and this in spite of 
much wild and foolish talk in the journals of the 
two countries. 

I have to thank Mr. William Mackenzie, the 
well-known publisher of Glasgow, for kindly letting 

3 



Introductory 

me draw upon some articles which I wrote for his 
" National Cyclopaedia ' ' ten years ago \ and upon 
the literary section, which he and his^litor, Mr. 
John Brabner, permitted me to contJ« jnt that 
time, to a book entitled " The Victo^B ™pire." 
I have also to thank my friends, Dn^ Hirtson 
Nicoll and Mr. L. F. Austin, for kindly reading 
my proof-sheets, Mr. Edward Clodd for valuable 
suggestions, and Mr. Sydney Webb, a friend of 
old student days, for reading the chapter which 
treats briefly of sociology and economics. 

A compilation of this kind can scarcely hope to 
escape the defects of most such enterprises — errors 
both of date and of fact. I shall be glad to re- 
ceive corrections for the next edition. 

Clement K. Shorter. 

London, England, 

September 27, 1897. 



^ CHAPTER I 

The Poets 

\ 17 HEN Queen Victoria came to the throne in 
1837, most of the great poets who had been 
inspired by the French Revolutionary epoch were 
dead. Keats had died in Rome in 1821, Shelley 
was drowned in the Gulf of Spezzia in 1822, Byron 
died at Missolonghi in 1824, Scott at Abbotsford 
in 1832, and Coleridge at Highgate in 1834. 
Southey was Poet Laureate, although Wordsworth 
held a paramount place, recognised on all hands 
as the greatest poet of the day. 

The gulf which separates the Southey of the 1774- 1843 
laureateship from the Southey who presents him- 
self to our judgment to-day is almost impossible 
to bridge over. Southey, as the average bookman 
thinks of him now, is the author of a " Life of 
Nelson " and of one or two lyrics and ballads. 1 
The " Life of Nelson " is constantly republished for 
an age keenly bent on Nelson worship, but for the 

1 As, for example, The Battle of Blenheim, The Inchcape 
Rock and The Cataract of Lodore. 



Sixty Years of 

exacting it has been superseded by at least two 
biographies from living authors. 1 That Southey 
should live mainly by a book which was merely 
a publisher's commission, and not by the works 
which he and his contemporaries aeemed im- 
mortal, is one of the ironies of literature. 
Southey's " Cowper " is a much better biography 
than his " Nelson," but in Cowper the world 
has almost ceased to be interested. It does not 
now read " Table Talk " and " The Task " any 
more than it reads " Thalaba " and " Madoc," 
although every cultivated household of sixty 
years ago could talk freely of these poems. 
There will probably be a revival of interest in 
Cowper. It is safe to assume that there will 
never be a revival of interest in Southey, and that 
his very lengthy poems are doomed to oblivion. 

And yet it is interesting to note where 
Southey's contemporaries placed him. Shelley 
thought "Thalaba" magnificent, and its influence 
was marked in " Queen Mab." Coleridge spoke 
of its " pastoral charm." Landor found " Madoc " 
superb. Scott said that he had read it three or 
four times with ever-increasing admiration. It 
kept Charles James Fox out of bed till the small 

1 "The Nelson Memorial," by J. K. Laughton, 1896. 
" The Life of Nelson. The embodiment of the Sea Power 
of Great Britain," by Captain A. T. Mahan, 1897. 

6 



Victorian Literature 

hours ! But inexorable time has declared that 
these poems have no permanent place in literature. 
Time, however, has left us a kindly memory of 
South ey the man. Sara Coleridge's assertion that 
he was " on the whole the best man she had ever 
known," tallies with the judgment of many others 
of his contemporaries — who did not come into 
collision with his relentless prejudices. 

Relentless prejudice was equally a characteristic 
of Southey's greater successor as Poet Laureate. 
William Wordsworth had written all the poems 1770-1850 
by which he will live when the Queen came to 
the throne, but further recognition awaited the 
author of " Lyrical Ballads " and " Laodamia " in 
the thirteen years of his life that were yet to 
come. It was in 1839 that Keble, as Professor of 
Poetry at Oxford, welcomed Wordsworth when he 
received the honorary degree of D. C. L. with the 
eulogy that he had "shed a celestial light upon 
the affections, the occupations and the piety of 
the poor." In 1842 he obtained an annuity from 
the Civil List, and in the following year he suc- 
ceeded Southey as laureate. The mere fact, 
however, that Wordsworth wrote nothing of im- 
portance in the present reign does not permit of 
his dismissal as a pre-Victorian author. His real 
influence, splendid and serene, was made upon 
the age which is passing away. 

7 



Sixty Years of 

He found us when the age had bound 

Our souls in its benumbing round ; 

He spoke, and loosed our heart in tears. 

During the period in which Wordsworth's poems 
were coming from the press he was scoffed at 
alike by Byron and by the authors of " Rejected 
Addresses," and they appealed to a sympathetic 
audience. Coleridge had, indeed, praised him 
generously enough, but the author of " The Ode 
to Duty " knew nothing of the enthusiastic par- 
tisanship which was to be his lot in the later years 
of his life, and for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury after his death. I have before me two books 
which will serve to indicate the high-water mark of 
Wordsworth's popularity. One is a volume of 
selections from his poems, which was edited by 
Mr. Matthew Arnold ; 1 the other, a volume of 
Transactions of the Wordsworth Society, which 
was privately issued to the members. In his little 
volume of "Selections " Mr. Arnold, then recognised 
on all hands as our most important living critic, 
insisted upon Wordsworth's pre-eminence in poetry, 
placing him indeed on a level with Shakspere and 
Milton, and assigning to Byron and Shelley a 
secondary rank. 

Mr. Arnold, as events proved, only echoed a 

1 " Select Poems of Wordsworth," by Matthew Arnold. 
" Golden Treasury Series." 



Victorian Literature 

pervading sentiment. The Wordsworth Society was 
founded, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
Dean of St. Paul's, the Lord Chief Justice of Eng- 
land, the then American Minister — Mr. Lowell — 
and a number of distinguished literary men among 
its members. The Transactions of that Society 
give evidence that among the thoughtful men and 
women of the last decade Wordsworth was by far 
the strongest influence, that he was not merely a 
literary tradition, but that he was a vital force in 
the minds and hearts of nearly all the most inter- 
esting people of the period. Students of to-day, 
however, will be well content to read Wordsworth 
only in Matthew Arnold's " Selections." Here they 
will find him as a sonneteer proclaiming liberty with 
scarcely less zeal and power than Milton. They 
will find him as the sympathetic friend of the poor 
and of the oppressed. To be dead to the charm 
of Matthew Arnold's " Selections from Wordsworth " 
is to care nothing for poetry. To appreciate with 
any measure of enthusiasm the twelve volumes of 
Wordsworth's collected writings is equally to have 
one's sense of true poetry deadened and destroyed. 
We have no time now for "The Excursion " and 
"The Prelude." We have less for Wordsworth's 
"Ecclesiastical Sonnets" and "The Borderers." 
For his copious prose moralizings one has no 
toleration whatever. 



Sixty Years of 

i8og-i8g2 It is not easy to judge whether Alfred Tennyson 
will ever cease to retain the very wide hold upon 
the public which was his for at least thirty years 
prior to his death, and which is his to-day. The 
poems of Tennyson might be read by succeed- 
ing generations of Englishmen if only for their 
exquisite purity of style. Music he has also in 
abundance. In " Harold," " Queen Mary," and 
his other plays there is no great gift of char- 
acterisation, and these assuredly will go the way of 
Southey's more ambitious poems. But in " Maud " 
Tennyson caught the social aspiration of his time 
with singular insight. The world, he pleaded — and 
England in particular — was given over to money- 
getting. The capitalist was more tyrannical than 
the old, expiring slave-owner. Even peace was a 
mere word. There was a worse tyranny than that 
which left men for dead on the battle-field. There 
was the tyranny which ground them to dust for a 
bare pittance in mill and factory. Tennyson never 
wrote with greater force or with more perfect 
dramatic and lyric art, and his poem is as striking 
and effective to-day as at the time of its publication 
in 1855. 

Lord Tennyson — for the Poet Laureate accepted 
a peerage in 1890 — won the hearts of a wider audi- 
ence by " In Memoriam," and of a still larger one 
by "The Idylls of the King." " In Memoriam," a 

IO 



Victorian Literature 

lengthy elegy on his college friend, Arthur Hallam, 
touched the great religious public of England. 
The poem reflected a certain transcendentalism of 
view which was fast becoming fashionable. 

" There lives more faith in honest doubt, 
Believe me, than in half the creeds," 

was, in fact, more and more the prevailing tone 
among all phases of Protestantism where a few years 
earlier the exact opposite had been insisted upon. 

One of the most agreeable pictures which our 
literary period affords is offered by the friendship 
between Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning. 
The two men were not seldom compared; 
each had his partisans, and each his enthusi- 
astic disciples. Neither from a social nor 
from a literary point of view would they seem 
to have had much in common. Browning was 
a regular diner-out, he appeared systematically at 
every picture-gallery and at every public entertain- 
ment, and in all these things he was keenly in- 
terested : he loved society. Lord Tennyson, on 
the other hand, lived a retired life in one or other 
of his country houses. He was morbidly sensitive 
to the attentions of the crowd, and amusing stories 
are told of his desire to avoid the "vulgar" gaze. 
Considered as literary men, the contrast between 
these poets was greater. Tennyson's language was 

II 



Sixty Years of 

dainty, simple, full of grace ; his characters mono- 
tonous, lacking in vigour. Browning wrote with 
rugged force, and sometimes with an obscurity 
which left the reader bewildered. But his gift of 
characterisation was superb, and his men and 
women for individuality are comparable only to 
those of Shakspere. The hearts of all of us go out 
to Tennyson when we think of the music of his 
verses, of his gifts of natural description, his fine 
and captivating imagination; but our hearts and 
our intellects go out to Browning, as to one who has 
enshrined our best thoughts, who has touched all our 
deepest emotions. It is true that half of Browning's 
sixteen volumes are flatly incomprehensible to the 
majority of us ; but the other half are equal in bulk 
to the whole of Lord Tennyson's writings, and 
quite free from any suspicion of obscurity. The 
"Ring and the Book" is not obscure. It is 
an exciting story, dramatically told. So also are 
the poems called "Men and Women," and the 
" Dramatic Idyls." " Luria," " In a Balcony," " A 
Blot in the 'Scutcheon," are as readable as railway 
novels. And yet Browning had, and has, none of 
the popularity of Tennyson. The one writer sold 
by thousands, and his financial reward was probably 
unprecedented in poetry ■ the other had but a small 
audience, an audience which never approached to 
one -third of his rival's. Notwithstanding all this, 
it is pleasing to note that the two poets loyally 

12 



Victorian Literature 

esteemed one another, as the dedication of some 
of their books conspicuously proves. 

To write thus early of Robert Browning is to 1812-1889 
anticipate in the literary record. " Pauline," the 
poet's first poem, was published, it is true, in 1833 ; 
and that and successive poems were accepted by 
good critics as the work of a true poet. Neverthe- 
less, Browning had to fight his way as no poet of 
equal merit has ever had to do, and it was very 
late indeed in the Victorian epoch that he became 
more than the poet of a limited circle. One there 
was, certainly, who appreciated his work from the 
first with no common fervour, for the world has 
long been familiar with the statement that a re- 
ference by Elizabeth Barrett in " Lady Geraldine's 
Courtship " first brought the two poets together in 
1845 — 

" From Browning some ' Pomegranate ' 
Which, if cut deep down the middle, 
Shows a heart within blood-tinctured, 
Of a veined humanity." 

They were married a year later. As exemplifying 
the condescension of their earlier contemporaries 
it is interesting to note Wordsworth's observation 
on the event — and Wordsworth had no humour — 
" So, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett have 
gone off together ! Well, I hope they may under- 
stand each other — nobody else could!" Lord 

l 3 



Sixty Years of 

Granville, who was staying in Florence when a son 
was born to the poets there in 1849, was still 
more amusing although equally uncritical. " Now 
there are not two incomprehensibles but three 
incomprehensibles," he said. 

It cannot be charged against Elizabeth Barrett 
1809-1861 Browning that she was in the least incomprehen- 
sible. Her " Cry of the Children," " Cowper's 
Grave," and "Aurora Leigh" have the note of ex- 
treme simplicity. Nor is obscurity a characteristic 
of " Sonnets from the Portuguese," which were 
not translations, but so named to disguise a 
wife's devotion to her husband. "Aurora Leigh" 
she styled a "novel in verse," and it was in 
fact a very readable romance, marked by that 
zest for social reform which characterised the 
period. 1 " The most mature of my works, and 
the one into which my highest convictions upon 
Life and Art have entered," she wrote of it. 

After the marriage the pair lived principally at 
Florence. In their Florentine home — Casa Guidi 
— " Aurora Leigh " and " Casa Guidi Windows " 
were written, and here Mrs. Browning died in 
June 1 86 1. One may still see the house upon 
which the Florentine municipality has inscribed 
a tablet in gratitude for the " golden ring " of 

1 Charles Kingsley's " Two Years Ago " appeared the 
same year— in 1857. 



Victorian Literature 

poetry with which the enthusiastic woman poet 
had attempted to unite England and Italy. 

Another great Florentine by adoption, Walter 
Savage Landor, came to live near the Brownings. 1775-1864 
His rugged nature must have been not a little 
soothed by the gentle little woman with " a soul 
of fire enclosed in a shell of pearl." Landor was 
educated at Rugby, at Ashbourne, and at Trinity 
College, Oxford. From Rugby he was removed to 
avoid expulsion, and at Oxford he was rusticated. 
All this was the outcome of an excitable tem- 
perament, which led in later life to domestic com- 
plications, and to exile from his family in Florence. 
It found no reflection in his many beautiful works. 
As a poet, however, Landor holds no considerable 
rank, although here placed among them. " Gebir" 
was published in 1798 and "Count Julian" in 
181 2. Both these lengthy poems have received 
the rapturous praise of authoritative critics, De 
Quincey even declaring that Count Julian was a 
creation worthy to rank beside the Prometheus 
of ^Eschylus and Milton's Satan. Southey insisted 
indeed that Landor had written verses " of which 
he would rather have been the author than of 
any produced in our time." But Landor's poems, 
although obtainable in his collected works, and 
published in selections, command no audience 
to-day. With his prose the case is otherwise. 



Sixty Years of 

There is little in the six volumes of " Imaginary 
Conversations," or in the two volumes of "Longer 
Prose Works/' that does not merit attention 
alike for style and matter. "Give me," he 
says in one of his prefaces, "ten accomplished 
men for readers and I am content." Landor 
has all accomplished men for readers now. 
And all are at one with the critic who said 
that, " excepting Shakspere, no other writer has 
furnished us with so many delicate aphorisms of 
human nature." Mr. Swinburne's expression of 
veneration is well known. 

" I came as one whose thoughts half linger, 
Half run before ; 
The youngest to the oldest singer 
That England bore. 

" I found him whom I shall not find 
Till all grief end ; 
In holiest age our mightiest mind, 
Father and friend." 

The connecting link between Landor and his 
young admirer is sufficiently apparent. In genuine 
accomplishment, the imaginative literature of our 
era has produced no one comparable to Landor, 
1837- save only Algernon Charles Swinburne. Mr. Swin- 
burne has written well in several languages other 
than his own. In his own he has written tragedies 
of wider purpose than those of Tennyson, of equal 
insight with those of Browning. He has written 

16 



Victorian Literature 

noble sonnets, lyrics of exquisite melody, and 
one poem, "Ave atque Vale," which takes rank 
among the imperishable elegies of our literature. 
He has abundant spontaneity and a marvellous 
gift of rhythm. Added to all this, he is a critic of 
almost unequalled learning and distinction. He 
was the first to give adequate recognition to the 
poetic genius of Matthew Arnold and Emily Bronte. 
He knows Elizabethan literature with remarkable 
thoroughness, and he knows the literature of many 
ages and many lands better than most of the pro- 
fessors. His appreciation of Charles Lamb endears 
him to English readers, and his eulogies of Victor 
Hugo command the respect of Frenchmen. A great 
poet and a great prose writer, Mr. Swinburne is 
perhaps the most distinguished literary figure of 
our day. Only when in the distant years his 
country has lost him, will a great folly be gener- 
ally recognised. Why, it will be asked, did we 
not spontaneously call for him — arch democrat 
and arch rebel though he may have been — as the 
only possible successor to Lord Tennyson as Poet 
Laureate ? 

It has been said that Mr. Swinburne was the first 
to recognise the great poetical gifts of Matthew- 
Arnold. Writing in the Fortnightly Review ini822-i888 
1867, 1 he remarked that the fame of Mr. Matthew 
1 Reprinted in 1875 i n " Essays and Studies." 
B jy 



Sixty Years of 

Arnold had for some years been almost exclusively 
the fame of a prose writer. " Those students," he 
continued, "could hardly find hearing, who with 
all esteem and enjoyment of his essays ... re- 
tained the opinion that, if justly judged, he must 
be judged by his verse and not by his prose." 
The view that Arnold excelled as a prose writer 
continued to hold sway for many years after 
Mr. Swinburne wrote, and it was current up to 
the date of Arnold's death. "Literature and 
Dogma " and " God and the Bible," the former 
of which first appeared in 1873, excited an 
extraordinary amount of attention, and helped 
largely to modify the religious beliefs of many 
men and women now rapidly approaching middle 
age. The son of a famous clergyman, Dr. Thomas 
Arnold of Rugby, Matthew Arnold was a pro- 
duct of that Broad Church movement which Dr. 
Arnold had helped largely to inspire. A fellow- 
pupil of Dr. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, Arnold 
went further than the Dean in his opposition to 
supernaturalism in religion, though he stopped short 
of the fiery antagonism which another eminent 
Anglican churchman, Bishop Colenso, displayed 
towards the miraculous stories of the Old Testa- 
ment. But far more than Stanley or Colenso did 
he influence the Protestant Christianity of his day. 
This, however, scarcely enters into the discussion 
of Matthew Arnold the poet. More akin to that 



Victorian Literature 

side of Arnold's life is his literary criticism. For 
many years he held in this field a well-nigh 
undisputed throne. For a time he was Professor 
of Poetry at Oxford. But his influence came 
mainly through a volume called " Essays in 
Criticism" (1865), of which it is not too much 
to say that the paper entitled " The Function of 
Criticism at the Present Time," gave a new impulse 
to all students of books. Here and elsewhere 
Arnold emphasised the opinion that not only a fine 
artistic instinct but a vast amount of knowledge, 
admitting of comparisons, is necessary as the 
equipment of a critic. Criticism he defined as " a 
disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the 
best that is known and thought in the world." 
Matthew Arnold had other claims as a prose 
writer. His appeal for the study of Celtic lit- 
erature initiated and encouraged a revival of 
learning in Wales and in Ireland ; and his books 
and essays on Education — for his main income 
for many years was derived from his salary as an 
Inspector of Schools — did much to further the 
cause which his brother-in-law, Mr. W. E. Forster, 
began with the great Education Act of 1870. 

But it is as a poet, as Mr. Swinburne foretold, that 
Matthew Arnold lives in literature. It is strange 
to some of us to note how largely the bulk of his 
prose work has dropped out of the memory of the 
younger generation. The diligent collector pos- 

19 



Sixty Years of 

sesses some forty-five volumes of Mr. Arnold's 
writings; but although there has been a cheap 
reprint of many of these, it is only by his col- 
lected poems that he is widely known to-day. 
Mr. Swinburne, in the essay to which I have re- 
ferred, tells of the joy with which, as a schoolboy, 
he came upon a copy of " Empedocles on Etna." 
He must then have been about fifteen years of 
age, as " Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems 
by A" was published in 1852. It contained 
" Tristram and Iseult," " Stanzas in Memory of 
the Author of l Obermann,' " and many now ac- 
cepted favourites. " The Strayed Reveller " by 
" A " was a still earlier volume of anonymous 
verse (1849) ; and, in 1853, " Poems " by Matthew 
Arnold made the poet known by name to a small 
circle. A substantial recognition as a poet did not 
however fall to Matthew Arnold while he lived. His 
career is, indeed, a striking example of the fact that 
our views of contemporary literature require to be 
revised every decade. Ten years ago everyone 
was discussing Matthew Arnold's views concern- 
ing Isaiah and St. Paul, and the Nonconformists, 
whom he chaffed good-humouredly, have recon- 
structed many of their beliefs through a study of 
his works. People were excited by his views on 
education and by his views on literature, but not 
by his poetry. To-day his poetry is all of him 
that remains, and its charm is likely to soothe 

20 



Victorian Literature 

the more strenuous minds among us for at least 
another generation, and perhaps for all time. 

In "Thyrsis," a striking elegy on Arthur Hugh 
Clough, Arnold struck a note which has only 1819-1861 
Milton's "Lycidas" and Shelley's "Adonais" to 
call forth comparisons. Clough was not a Keats, 
but he was a more considerable personage than 
Milton's friend, and indeed he has been per- 
sistently underrated by many men of letters. Not 
indeed by all. "We have a foreboding," said 
Mr. Lowell, "that Clough will be thought a 
hundred years hence, to have been the truest 
expression in verse of the moral and intellectual 
tendencies of the period in which he lived." 
Clough was the son of a cotton merchant of 
Liverpool, and he was a pupil of Dr. Arnold at 
Rugby. He gained a Balliol scholarship, and went 
into residence in 1837. The coming years brought 
doubts and distractions, religious and political, and 
Clough parted from Oxford. His most famous 
poem, "The Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich," was 
published in 1848. In 1852 he sailed to Boston 
in the same ship that carried Thackeray and Lowell. 
Emerson, who had met him in England, welcomed 
him there. Travelling through Europe for his 
health, he died of paralysis in Florence in 1861. 1 

1 See " Poems and Prose Remains " by Arthur Hugh 
Clough, with a Selection from his Letters, and a Memoir, 
edited by his wife. 2 vols., 1888. 

21 



Sixty Years of 

The catalogue of great English poets of the 
period is completed with the names of Rossetti 
and Morris. Perhaps there is no more romantic 
figure in modern literature than Dante Gabriel 

1 828-1 882 Rossetti, although he has suffered cruelly from the 
biographer. His father, Gabriele, was an Italian 
exile, a critic of Dante, a teacher of Italian in 
London. His mother was a sister of the notorious 
Polidori, whose charlatanry is remembered wherever 
an interest in Lord Byron prevails. 

The younger Rossetti had relatives — a brother, 
William Michael, who has written verses, criticisms, 
and a ponderous biography of Gabriel ; and a sister, 

1827-1876 Maria Francesca Rossetti, whose " Shadow of 
Dante " makes good reading for admirers of the 
great Florentine, and, indeed, may be recommended 
to every English student of Dante. Another sister, 

1830-1894 Christina Georgina Rossetti, wrote many books. 
She will live by her "Goblin Market" (1862), and 
by numerous short poems. Books of the type of 
" Called to be Saints " and " The Face of the 
Deep : A Commentary on the Revelation," have 
also won her much affection and admiration from 
religious sympathisers. She was not responsible 
for " Maude " and " New Poems," inadequate 
works which her brother thought fit to publish 
after her death. They are practically worthless. 

Dante Rossetti was a considerable painter as 
well as a poet. His name is written large in that pre- 

22 



Victorian Literature 

Raphaelite movement which gave him for associates 
Mr. Holman Hunt and Sir John Millais. The 
movement, which had Mr. John Ruskin for its 
literary champion, when reduced to simple state- 
ment, meant a harking back to early mediaeval 
art. Sir John Millais and Mr. Holman Hunt 
speedily abandoned this position, and Rossetti 
himself was never a pre -Raphaelite in any real 
sense. The pre-Raphaelites issued in 1850 a 
journal under the editorship of Rossetti's brother, 
and to the Germ, as it was called, Rossetti con- 
tributed his poem, "The Blessed Damozel," and 
a story, "Hand and Soul." To the Germ also, 
Thomas Woolner (1825-1892), the sculptor, con- 
tributed the poems of " My Beautiful Lady." 

One epoch in the life of Rossetti was his intro- 
duction to Mr. Ruskin, and another was his first 
acquaintance with William Morris. Ruskin bought 
his pictures with characteristic generosity, and 
further assisted Rossetti to publish "The Early 
Italian Poets" (1861), afterwards reprinted as 
"Dante and his Circle" (1874). William Morris 
introduced Rossetti to his Oxford friends, includ- 
ing Mr. Swinburne, and to the Oxford and Cam- 
bridge Magazine , in which many of his finest poems 
were published. After his wife's death, from an 
overdose of laudanum in 1862, Rossetti moved to 
Queen's House, Cheyne Walk, where for a time he 

23 



Sixty Years of 

had for associates in payment of rent Mr. Swin- 
burne and Mr. George Meredith, though the latter 
never actually lived in the house. From that 
time to his death he published many important 
poems — ballads of singular power like " The White 
Ship," " The King's Tragedy," and «' Sister Helen," 
and the many splendid sonnets of " The House of 
Life." The two volumes of Rossetti's collected 
works must always command readers. Rossetti 
died at Birchington-on-Sea, and a simple tomb in 
the churchyard marks his grave. 

1834-1896 The name of William Morris closes the list 
of Victorian poets of the first rank. Morris 
was as versatile as Rossetti. He touched many 
branches of Art with remarkable success. Now he 
was designing wall-papers, and became a suc- 
cessful manufacturer in this branch of commerce : 
now he was indefatigable in printing notable 
books in English literature from a type which he 
had himself selected. The wall-paper has given a 
new direction to the decoration of English houses, 
and the Kelmscott Press has added many beautiful 
books to our libraries, and given an impetus to a 
revival of taste in printing. This was but a part 
of Morris's life. Although a rich man, he was a 
vigorous lecturer on behalf of Socialism, and wrote 
many books, such as, for example: "The Dream 
of John Ball " (1888), and " News from Nowhere " 

24 



Victorian Literature 

( 1 89 1 ) , in support of his ideals. From the appear- 
ance of his "Defence of Guenevere " (1858), 
and "Life and Death of Jason" (1867), he 
was always publishing, and his translations from 
Homer, Virgil, and Scandinavian literature make 
a small library by themselves. But a practical 
handbook to Victorian literature needs but to 
mention one of his books. " The Earthly Para- 
dise " (1868-70), will live as long as a love of good 
story-telling remains to us. The tales are told by 
twenty-four travellers who desire to find the earthly 
paradise, and the book opens as do the Canter- 
bury Tales with a Prologue. The lyrical intro- 
duction is one of the most quotable things in our 
later literature : — 



" Of Heaven or Hell I have no power to sing, 
I cannot ease the burden of your fears, 
Or make quick-coming death a little thing, 
Or bring again the pleasure of past years, 
Nor for my words shall ye forget your tears, 
Or hope again for aught that I can say, 
The idle singer of an empty day. 



"Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time, 
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight? 
Let it suffice me that my murmuring rhyme 
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate, 
Telling a tale not too importunate 
To those who in the sleepy region stay, 
Lulled by the singer of an empty day. 

2 s 



Sixty Years of 

" Folk say, a wizard to a Northern King 
At Christmastide such wondrous things did show 
That through one window men beheld the Spring, 
And through another saw the Summer glow, 
And through a third the fruited vines arow, 
While still, unheard, but in its wonted way, 
Piped the drear wind of that December day." 

William Morris has not seldom been confused 
with a writer with whom he had nothing in com- 

1833- mon but the name. Sir Lewis Morris, a Welsh 
squire, and candidate for Parliament, has stood 
for convention as decisively as William Morris 
has stood against it. His " Songs of Two Worlds " 
(1871-5), and " Epic of Hades " (1876), brought 
him a considerable popularity, which "A Vision 
of Saints " and later books have not been able 
to maintain. Another literary knight of our time 
who has secured a large share of public attention 

1832- through his verse is Sir Edwin Arnold, whose 
"Light of Asia" interpreted to many the story 
of Buddha's career. A poem upon Christ and 
Christianity, " The Light of the World," owed the 
fact of its smaller success to the greater familiarity 
of the public with its main incidents. Sir Edwin 
Arnold has won other laurels as a traveller and as 
a journalist. ** 

Some of 'the best poetry of the era has been 
produced by writers whose principal achieve- 
ments are in the realm of prose. The Brontes, 

26 



Victorian Literature 

Charles Kingsley, George Meredith, and George 
Eliot — to name but a few — all wrote verse which 
must ultimately have secured attention had they 
not made great reputations as novelists. 

Assuredly, the three most successful poems in 
Victorian literature, of that portion of it which is 
already passing into oblivion, are " Proverbial 
Philosophy," " Festus," and " Philip Van Arte- 
velde." The "Proverbial Philosophy" of Martin 
Farquhar Tupper created an excitement in literary 1810-1889 
and non-literary circles which it is difficult for the 
present generation to comprehend. It is true that 
when it was first published, in 1838, it was greeted 
by the Athenaeum as " a book not likely to please 
beyond the circle of a few minds as eccentric as 
the author's." In spite of this, it sold in thousands 
and hundreds of thousands ; it went through over 
nine hundred editions in England, and five 
hundred thousand copies at least were sold in 
America. It was translated into French, German, 
and many other tongues ; its author was a popular 
hero, although of his later books, including " Bal- 
lads for the Times," "Raleigh, his Life and 
Death," and " Cithara," the very names are 
by this time forgotten. Of " Proverbial Philo- 
sophy " itself there are few enough copies in 
demand to-day, and it is difficult for us to 
place ourselves in the position of those who felt 
its charm. What to the early Victorian Era 

27 



Sixty Years of 

was counted for wisdom, and piety, and even 
for beauty, counts to the present age for mere 
commonplace verbiage. Tupper's name has taken 
a place in our language as the contemptuous 
synonym for a poetaster. " Festus," on the other 
hand, although not read to-day, has always com- 
manded respectful attention. Its author, Philip 

1816- James Bailey, wrote " Festus " in its first form, at 
the age of twenty, and it was published in 1839. 
The book was enlarged again and again, till it 
reached to three times its original length. It may 
be that this enlargement has had something to do 
with its fate. "Festus" was frequently compared 
to the best work of Goethe and of Mr. Browning. 
Even a more pronounced recognition accrued to 

1800-1886 the dramatic poems of Sir Henry Taylor, and 
more particularly to "Philip Van Artevelde " 
(1834), which was described by the Quarterly 
Review as " the noblest effort in the true old 
taste of our English historical drama, that has 
been made for more than a century," and 
which attracted the keenest attention of all Sir 
Henry Taylor's contemporaries. His entertaining 
"Autobiography" has told us that Taylor, who 
was an important official at the Colonial Office, 
knew all the famous men of his time. 

Women have occupied no small share in the 
literary history of the past sixty years, although 

28 



Victorian Literature 

it is in fiction that their most enduring triumphs 
have been secured. The most popular women 
poets, next in order to Mrs. Browning, have been 
Eliza Cook and Jean Ingelow. Eliza Cook wrote 1818-1889 
for the most part the kind of verses which would 
now be rejected by the editor of the Poet's Corner 
of a provincial newspaper. She would be little 
more than a vague memory, were it not for 
" The Old Arm-Chair " ; but she has other 
claims to consideration. In the forties and the 
fifties Eliza Cook's Journal was one of the most 
prominent publications of the day, and it did 
much for the cause of literature and philan- 
thropy. Jean Ingelow survived, as did Eliza 1820- 1897 
Cook, to see her verse well-nigh forgotten, and 
yet it is stated that two hundred thousand copies 
of her poems have been sold in America alone. 
Miss Ingelow, who was born in Boston, Lincoln- 
shire, and died in London, will live in anthologies 
by her ballad, " High Tide on the Coast of Lincoln- 
shire," by a song in "Supper at the Mill," and by 
sundry short poems. 

A certain brighter and more humorous kind of 
verse had its beginnings with Thomas Hood and 
the author of " The Ingoldsby Legends." Thomas 
Hood has endeared himself to the whole reading 1798-1845 
world by his " Song of the Shirt " (1844) ; and his 
"Dream of Eugene Aram" (1829) is not less 
29 



Sixty Years of 

familiar. But in addition to this he had an abun- 
dance of wit and drollery side by side with pathos 
and tenderness, which will always make a splendid 
tradition and a great inspiration. Hood was a jour- 
1788-1845 nalist. His prototype, Richard Harris Barham, 
was an Anglican clergyman. His pseudonym of 
Thomas Ingoldsby calls up memories of some of 
the quaintest and drollest verse ever written. The 
" Ingoldsby Legends " were first contributed to 
Bentley's Miscellany, and afterwards collected in 
volumes. "The Jackdaw of Rheims " is the most 
popular. Barham's once successful novel, " My 
Cousin Nicholas " is now all but forgotten. 

The most famous successors of Hood and Bar- 
ham hav© been Calverley and Mr. Austin Dobson. 
183 1 -1884 Charles Stuart Calverley wrote " Fly Leaves " and 
" Verses and Translations." Mr. Dobson has pub- 
lished, in addition to many valuable prose works, 
the exquisite "Vignettes in Rhyme" and "Pro- 
verbs in Porcelain," which, with Mr. Andrew Lang's 
"Ballades in Blue China," form a dainty contribu- 
tion to the lighter literature of the epoch. 

A determination to say as little as possible con- 
cerning writers still young in years, though already 
famous, will make, it may be, my summary of 
Victorian poetry seem inadequate to many. Mr. 
Traill, a discerning critic, has specified some hun- 
dred or more " minor poets " who flourish to-day ! 

30 



mm 



Victorian Literature 

But it cannot be doubted that the minor poet of our 
era, with his excellent technique, his deep feeling, 
and his high-minded impulsiveness, is separated by 
an immense gulf from the minor poet of an earlier 
period. The Pyes and the Hayleys, who were 
famous in an age when criticism was less of an art, 
had little enough of the real poetical faculty. That 
faculty can scarcely be denied to the hundred or 
more of living bards who now claim the suffrages 
of the poetry-loving reader. It cannot be denied 
also to many men who have passed away during 
the present era — to Alexander Smith and Sydney 
Dobell in one period, and to Coventry Patmore and 
James Thomson in another. Alexander Smith 1830-1867 
was an industrious essayist as well as a poet. 
Tennyson and Mrs. Browning concurred in their 
esteem of Smith as a poet "whose works show 
fancy, and not imagination " ; and this might with 
truth be said of too many of the minor bards, 
and, indeed, constitutes the dividing line. Sydney 
Yendys, under which pseudonym Sydney Dobell 1824-1874 
co-operated with Smith in "Sonnets on the War" 
(1855), was a poet of similar temperament. 

Coventry Patmore is known to the many 1823-1896 
through his " Angel in the House," a poem upon 
domestic bliss which breathed a note not always 
sincere, but to which Mr. Ruskin assured a cer- 
tain popularity through effective quotation in his 

31 



J 



Sixty Years of 

" Sesame and Lilies." A certain ecstatic band of 
admirers attached more importance to Patmore's 
" Unknown Eros." These admirers spoilt him by 
adulation. He probably looked forward with the 
same keen assurance to the verdict of posterity 
as did Southey ; and posterity it is all but certain 
will be as ruthless in the one case as in the other. 

Patmore's life was one of luxury and independ- 
ence. Quite the reverse was the fate of James 
1834-1882 Thomson, whose great poem, " The City of Dread- 
ful Night," was published in Mr. Charles Brad- 
laugh's National Reformer in 1874, and not 
republished as a book until 1880. Thomson 
had a melancholy career which ended in drink 
and disaster. He died in University Hospital, 
London. His " City of Dreadful Night " is 
peculiarly a reflection of the age that is passing. 
It secured even during the poet's life the commen- 
dation of George Eliot, of George Meredith, and 
of other critics ; and it may yet command a large 
audience, who breathe the note of pessimism which 
was always characteristic of the writer : — 

" The sense that every struggle brings defeat 

Because Fate holds no prize to crown success, 
That all the oracles are dumb or cheat 

Because they have no secret to express ; 
That none can pierce the vast black veil uncertain 
Because there is no light beyond the curtain ; 
That all is vanity and nothingness." 

3 2 



... • . 



Victorian Literature 

A poet whom one names with peculiar reverence 
is Thomas Aubrey de Vere, the son of Sir Aubrey 1814- 
de Vere, who was also a poet. Aubrey de Vere, 
the younger, knew and loved Wordsworth, to whom 
in 1842 he dedicated "The Waldenses : A Lyrical 
Tale," and yet retains, sixty years later, the most 
sympathetic interest in modern literary effort. Mr. 
de Vere is an Irishman, and was educated at 
Trinity College, Dublin. He has written many 
volumes of poetry and prose, his dramatic poems 
" Alexander the Great " and " St. Thomas of Can- 
terbury" having, no doubt, been largely inspired 
by the successes of his friend and relative, Sir 
Henry Taylor, and by his father's brilliant drama, 
"Mary Tudor." One of his most recent books 
was a volume of critical essays containing a notable 
study of Wordsworth. 

Irishmen have been fairly conspicuous in the 
poetry of the epoch, and the term " Celtic 
Renaissance " has begun to be used hopefully 
by lovers of Ireland who desire that country 
to have a literature as distinctly Irish as 
Scotland has a literature definitely Scottish. 
Thomas Moore was the pioneer of this move- 1779-1852 
ment. He had, it is true, done all his work be- 
fore the Queen came to the throne, although he 
lived yet another fifteen years. His " Irish 
Melodies" began to appear in 1807, " Lalla 

c 33 



Sixty Years of 

Rookh" was published in 1817, and the " Life 
of Byron" in 1830. Moore was as much an 
inspiration to modern Ireland as Burns to modern 
Scotland, and the one country holds the name of 
its poet as reverentially in memory as does the 
other. Moore, however, lacked the note of 
passionate sincerity which pertained to Burns; 
although we may fairly ask what would have been 
the career of Burns had he been thrown early into 
the literary and social life of London — the London 
of Byron's time. 

The influence of Moore was strong in Thomas 
1814-1845 Davis, whose " National and Historical Ballads, 
Songs and Poems " caused so great a ferment in the 
heart of Young Ireland. Many other Irish writers 
deserve to be named, such as James Clarence 
Mangan (1 803-1 849), Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810- 
1886), Lady DufTerin (1807-1867), and John 
Banim (1 798-1842), who wrote, in conjunction 
with his brother Michael, some twenty-four 
volumes of Irish stories and verses. Samuel 
1797- 1868 Lover is best known in England by his romance 
" Rory O'More " and his ever popular " Handy 
Andy," but in Ireland he is remembered as a writer 
of lyrics and ballads of heart- stirring character. 

An Irishman by descent, although not by birth, 
1809-1883 was Edward FitzGerald, who was born in Suffolk, 

34 



Victorian Literature 

and lived all his life in the neighbourhood of Wood- 
bridge in that county. FitzGerald's " Letters and 
Literary Remains " fill three substantial volumes, 
but he lives for us by his translation or rather 
paraphrase of the " Rubayat of Omar Khayyam 
of Naishapur," which first appeared in 1859. It 
is generally agreed that FitzGerald, a nineteenth 
century pagan, always reverently questioning the 
mystery of existence, superadded his own per- 
sonal thoughts and feelings to the verses of the 
old Persian singer. In doing this he touched 
deeply a certain aspect of the second half of the 
nineteenth century and founded a cult. Fitz- 
Gerald's verses, however, have been ardently 
admired by many who are far from accepting their 
pessimist view of life. 

Hartley Coleridge wrote and published his 1796-1849 
admirable sonnets before 1837. He was a 
son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (177 2- 1834), 
whose literary remains were edited by Henry 
Nelson Coleridge, a nephew and son-in-law. H. 
N. Coleridge married the great poet's only daughter, 
Sara Coleridge, who wrote one poem, " Phantas- 1803- 1852 
mion," and whose letters throw much light on an 
important chapter of literary history. 

Bryan Waller Procter, better known as " Barry 1787-1874 
Cornwall," was at school with Lord Byron at 

35 



Sixty Years of 

Harrow. His " Dramatic Scenes," " Marcian 
Colonna," and "Mirandola " were much talked of 
in their day. Procter was admired as a poet by 
Byron, Moore, and other famous contemporaries, 
but no one reads him now. A happier fate has 
1825-1864 befallen his daughter, Adelaide Anne Procter, 
whose " Legends and Lyrics " are still widely 
popular. 

Winthrop Mackworth Praed, who wrote much 
admirable humorous and satirical verse, is not a 
Victorian author, although his present popularity 
makes that rather hard to realise. He died in 
1803-1884 1839. Richard Hengist Home, on the other 
hand, although he lived into our time, is now 
remembered only by his friendship with Mrs. Brown- 
ing and by the humorous freak of publishing his 
epic " Orion " at a farthing. He was the author 
of a miracle play entitled " Judas Iscariot," a 
tragedy entitled "The Death of Marlowe," and 
many other works. 

Another writer of well-nigh forgotten tragedies 
1803-1849 was Thomas Lovell Beddoes, who wrote " The 
Bride's Tragedy " and " Death's Jest Book." A 
like extinction, it is to be feared, has befallen 
Ebenezer Jones and Ebenezer Elliott — the former 
of whom belonged to that spasmodic school of 
poets of which Alexander Smith and Philip James 

36 



Victorian Literature 

Bailey were supposed to be the leaders. Ebenezer 
Jones wrote " Studies in Sensation and Event," to 1820-1860 
which in 1879 his brother, Sumner Jones, attached 
an interesting biography. There is very genuine 
poetry in the volume, but it is not likely to be 
republished. Ebenezer Elliott had a very different 1781-1849 
fate. He enjoyed for many years the suffrages of 
the multitude. His " Corn Law Rhymes " played 
a considerable part in the political agitation of the 
period. James Montgomery called him " the poet 
of the poor." Another writer with a fine demo- 
cratic impulse was Gerald Massey, who was asso- 1828- 
ciated with the Chartist movement, and wrote 
" Poems and Charms " and "Voices of Freedom 
and Lyrics of Love." Another Chartist was 
Thomas Cooper, who wrote "The Purgatory 0^805-1892 
Suicides " and many other poems and an enter- 
taining autobiography. Cooper was an active 
political agitator, and was imprisoned for two 
years in Stafford gaol for sedition. 

A poet wlio holds a great place in the minds of 
many is William Barnes, who kept a school for a 1820-1886 
time in Mr. Thomas Hardy's town of Dorchester. 
He afterwards became a clergyman and rector of 
Winterbourne-Came. He was a philologist as 
well as a poet, and published many works on 
language. His interest for us here, is in his 
" Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect " 

37 



Sixty Years of 

(1844). Another poet-clergyman of great learn- 
1803-1875 ing was Robert Stephen Hawker, whose work 
reflects Devonshire and Cornwall, as Barnes re- 
flects Dorsetshire. He wrote the "Song of the 
Western Men " which he deceived Macaulay into 
believing to be an old Cornish ballad, and the 
great historian introduced it into his "History 
of England" as an example of the excitement 
caused by the arrest of the seven bishops. 1 Its 
stirring refrain — 

" And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die ? 
Then thirty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason 
why " — 

will always keep Hawker in remembrance. He 
was vicar of Morwenstow and wrote several 
volumes of poems and some prose, including 
"Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall." 

Two poets, father and son, made the name of 
Marston honoured in their days. John Westland 
Marston (181 9- 1890) was born at Boston, Lin- 
colnshire. He wrote two dramas, "Strathmore" 
and " Marie de M^ranie," which had much suc- 
cess some years ago. Another work, " A Hard 
Struggle," obtained the enthusiastic praise of 
Dickens. Dr. Garnett claims for Marston that he 
was long the chief upholder of the poetical drama 

1 All over the country the peasants chanted a ballad of 
which the burden is still remembered. Macaulay, History, 
Vol. II., p. 371. 

38 



Victorian Literature 

on the English stage. Philip Bourke Marston, a 1850-1887 
son of Westland Marston, should not have failed 
of literary success, as he had for godfather Philip 
James Bailey, the author of " Festus," and for 
godmother Miss Mulock, author of "John Hali- 
fax, Gentleman." He, however, became blind at 
three years of age. He published three volumes 
of verse, " Song Tide and Other Poems " (1871), 
"All in All" (1875), and "Wind Voices" ( l88 3>- 
They were never popular, although his poetry 
gained him the esteem of many eminent men, 
Rossetti and Mr. Swinburne among others. Mrs. 
Chandler Moulton, an American lady who wrote 
"Swallow Flights," gave us a memoir of Philip 
Bourke Marston. In this she was assisted by Mr. 
William Sharp, who was also one of Rossetti's bio- 
graphers. Mrs. Moulton did a like good office to 
the memory of Arthur O'Shaughnessy, a poet of 1844-1881 
considerable distinction in his day. O'Shaugh- 
nessy married the younger Marston's sister. His 
"Epic of Women and Other Poems," published in 
1870, was a volume of very great promise. He 
wrote other verses, which never attained to quite 
the same measure of success. 

It only remains for me to name Alfred Austin 1835- 
the Poet Laureate. After Lord Tennyson's death 
in 1892 the office remained vacant for four years. 
The two poets who might have been considered to 

39 



Sixty Years of 

have had some claim, William Morris and Mr. 
Swinburne, were supposed to be impossible on 
account of democratic sympathies, although it is 
doubtful if either would have accepted the office. 
Almost every living poet, however small the bulk 
of his achievement, and however inconsiderable 
his years, was nominated — by the press — in turn. 
Finally, in 1896, by a pleasant irony of circum- 
stances the laureateship was given to a journalist, — 
for Mr. Austin had been a leader-writer on the staff 
of the Standard newspaper for many years. He 
has written "The Golden Age, a Satire" (187 1), 
"Savonarola" (1881), "English Lyrics" (1891), 
and many prose works. His " English Lyrics " 
contained an appreciative introduction by William 
Watson, the author of " Wordsworth's Grave," 
" Lachrymse Musarum," and other poems which 
have been received with abundant cordiality by 
the press and public. Another living poet who has 
1864- been well and justly praised is Rudyard Kipling. 
He made his earliest fame as a writer of short 
stories of Indian military life. "Soldiers Three" 
and " Wee Willie Winkie " have entirely captivated 
the imagination of Mr. Kipling's contemporaries. 
It is as a poet, however, that he will perhaps 
longest retain his hold upon them. His " Barrack- 
Room Ballads " (1892) are finely touched with that 
martial spirit which so strongly appeals to the heart 
of our nation. 

40 



CHAPTER II 

The Novelists 

A NY comparison of the novels of the Victorian 
x *- Era, with the novels of the Georgian Period, 
must be very much to the disadvantage of the 
former. The great epoch of English fiction began 
with Goldsmith and Richardson, and ended with 
Sir Walter Scott. It was an epoch which gave 
us "The Vicar of Wakefield," "Clarissa," "Tom 
Jones," "Pride and Prejudice," "Humphry Clinker," 
and "Tristram Shandy." That fiction had a 
naturalness and spontaneity to which the novels 
of the Victorian Era can lay no claim. The 
novels of the period with which we are concerned 
aspire to regenerate mankind. Dickens, indeed, 
started off with but little literary equipment save 
sundry eighteenth century novels. He had read 
Smollett, and Fielding, and Sterne, diligently. 
But the influence of these humourists — so marked 
in " Pickwick " — became qualified in his succeeding 
books by the strenuous spirit of the times. 

It is alike interesting in itself and convenient 
41 



Sixty Years of 

for my purpose that the most popular novelist of 
the Victorian Era should have published his first 
great book in 1837. Dickens awoke then to 
abundant fame, and his popularity has never 
waned for an instant during the sixty succeeding 
years. To-day he may be more or less decried 
by "literary" people, but his audience has multi- 
plied twofold. He has added to it the countless 
thousands whom the School Board has given to 
the reading world. 
1812-1870 Charles Dickens was born at Landport, Portsea, 
his father being an improvident clerk in the Navy 
Pay Office at Portsmouth. Dickens senior has 
been immortalised for us by the not too pleasing 
portrait of "Micawber." After infinite struggle 
and penury, Dickens became a reporter for the 
Morning Chronicle. Under the signature of 
" Boz " he wrote "Sketches" for the Monthly 
Magazine in 1834. "Pickwick" appeared from 
April 1836 to November 1837, and alike in parts 
and in book form took the world by storm. 
It was succeeded by "Oliver Twist" (1838), 
"Nicholas Nickleby" (1839), "The ld Curiosity 
Shop" (1840), and " Barnaby Rudge " (1841). 
From this time forth Dickens was the most popular 
writer that our literature has seen. Within twelve 
years after his death some four millions of his 
books were sold in England, and there is no 
reason to believe that this popularity has in any 
42 



Victorian Literature 

way abated, although George Eliot foretold that 
much of Dickens's humour would be meaningless 
to the next generation, that is to say, to the 
generation which is now with us. It is the fashion 
to call Dickens the novelist of the half- educated, 
to charge him with lack of reflectiveness, with in- 
capacity for serious reasoning. His humour has 
been described as insincere, his pathos as exagger- 
ated. Much of this indictment may with equal 
justice be made against Richardson and even against 
Jane Austen, who surely anticipated Dickens by the 
creation of the Rev. William Collins. 

If Dickens had been a learned University Pro- 
fessor he would not have possessed the equipment 
most needful for the artist who was to portray to 
us in an imperishable manner the London which 
is now fast disappearing. The people who 
censure Dickens are those for whom he has served 
a purpose and is of no further use. They are a 
mere drop in the ocean of readers. It is not 
easy to-day to gauge his precise position. 
The exhaustion of many of his copyrights has 
given up his work to a host of rival publishers. 
There are probably thousands of men and women 
now, as there were in the fifties and sixties, who 
have been stimulated by him, and who have found in 
t his writings the aid to a cheery optimism which has 
made life more tolerable amid adverse conditions. 
Mrs. Richmond Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, tells 

43 



Sixty Years of 

us how keenly Dickens's capacity for stirring the 
heart was felt even in the home of the rival novel- 
ist. Thackeray's youngest daughter, then a child, 
looked up from the book she was reading to ask 
the question, " Papa, why do you not write books 
like ' Nicholas Nickleby ' ? " Thackeray himself 
shared the general enthusiasm. " David Copper- 
field," he writes to a correspondent, " By Jingo ! 
It is beautiful ! It is charming ! Bravo Dickens ! 
It has some of his very brightest touches — those 
inimitable Dickens touches which make such a 
great man of him. And the reading of the book 
has done another author a great deal of good. . . . 
It has put me on my mettle and made me feel that 
I must do something ; that I have fame and name 
and family to support." 

If Dickens is still beloved by the multitude, 
1811-1863 the name of William Makepeace Thackeray has 
entirely eclipsed his in the minds of a certain 
literary section of the community. Thackeray 
stands to them for culture, Dickens for illiteracy. 
Thackeray had indeed a more polished intellect ; 
he had also a more restrained style. Thackeray 
was born at Calcutta. His father, who was an 
Indian civil servant, died when the boy was only 
five years old. He was educated at Charterhouse^ 
School and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1831 
he went to Weimar. He studied long at Paris 

44 



Victorian Literature 

with a view to becoming an artist, and when 
" Pickwick " wanted an illustrator to continue the 
work of Seymour who had committed suicide, 
Thackeray applied to Dickens, but Hablot Browne 
was chosen, and Thackeray was disappointed — 
happily for the world, which lost an indifferent 
artist to gain a great author. Thackeray in 1837 
— the year which saw the publication of "Pick- 
wick " as a volume — joined the staff of Fraser's 
Magazine. In that journal appeared in succession 
" The History of Samuel Titmarsh and the 
Great Hoggarty Diamond," "The Yellowplush 
Papers," and "The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon." 
In 1847 "Vanity Fair" was begun in numbers, 
and not till then did its author secure real renown. 
"Pendennis" was published in 1850, and "Es- 
mond"ini852. " The Newcomes " (1854) isin 
some measure a sequel to " Pendennis," as " The 
Virginians" (1858) is in some measure a sequel 
to " Esmond." These are the five works by 
Thackeray which everyone must read. In 1857 
Thackeray unsuccessfully contested Oxford. In 
1859 he undertook the editorship of the new 
Cornhill Magazine, which flourished in his hands. 
These were the halcyon days of magazine editors. 
On Macaulay's death in 1859, Thackeray talked 
of purchasing the historian's vacant house. A 
friend remarked upon his prosperity. " To make 
money one must edit a magazine," was the answer. 

45 



Sixty Years of 

He did not buy Macaulay's house, but built 
himself one at Palace Green, and here he died 
the day before Christmas- day 1863. His daughter, 
Anne Thackeray, who became Mrs. Richmond 
Ritchie, has written " Old Kensington " and other 
stories of singular charm. 

The twenty-six volumes of Thackeray's works 
make a veritable nursery of style for the modern 
literary aspirant. But it is, as has been said, upon 
his five great novels that his future fame must rest. 
They are as permanent a picture of life among the 
well-to-do classes as those Dickens has given us 
of life among the poor. 

1816-1855 Charlotte Bronte, who gave to Thackeray the 
enthusiastic hero-worship of her early years, called 
him a Titan, and dedicated " Jane Eyre " to him, 
had little enough in common with the author of 
" Vanity Fair." The daughter of a poor parson 
of Irish birth, she was born at Thornton in York- 
shire. She and two sisters grew up in the cramped 
atmosphere of a vicarage at Haworth, in the centre 
of the moorlands. They wrote stories and poems 
from childhood, and dreamed of literary fame. 
Meanwhile it was necessary to add to the scanty 
stipend of their father; two of them went back 
as governesses to the school in which they had 
been educated ; and all of them a little later at- 
tempted the uncongenial life of private governesses. 

46 



Victorian Literature 

The desire to have a school of their own led 
Charlotte and her sister Emily to Brussels, where 
they studied French and German. Returning to 
the Haworth parsonage, the three sisters, Char- 
lotte, Emily, and Anne, with money left them by 
an aunt, published a volume of verse — " Poems 
by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell." Then each 
sister produced from her drawer the manuscript 
of a novel, and Charlotte's " Professor," Emily's 
"Wuthering Heights," and Anne's "Agnes Grey" 
were sent round to the publishers and returned 
more than once to the parsonage. Finally " The 
Professor " was read by Smith & Elder, who 
asked for a longer story by the writer. "Jane 
Eyre" (1847), was the result, and that story 
became one of the most successful novels of the day. 
It was followed by " Shirley " (1849) and " Villette " 
(1853). In 1854 Charlotte Bronte became Mrs. 
Arthur Bell Nicholls, and the wife of her father's 
curate. In the following year she died. "The 
Professor" was published two years after her death. 

Emily Bronte accomplished less than her elder 1818-1848 
sister, but her name will live as long. She secured 
the admiration of Sydney Dobell, of Matthew 
Arnold, and of Mr. Swinburne, and her best verse 
is perhaps the greatest ever written by a woman. 
"Last Lines" and "The Old Stoic" will rank 
with the finest poetry in our literature. Her one 

47 



Sixty Years of 

novel, " Wuthering Heights," has been most happily 
criticised by Mr. Swinburne : " As was the author's 
life so is her book in all things ; troubled and taint- 
less, with little of rest in it and nothing of reproach. 
It may be true that not many will ever take it to 
their hearts ; it is certain that those who do like it 
will like nothing very much better in the whole 
world of poetry or prose." 

Emily Bronte's sole contributions to literature 
were the poems written in conjunction with her two 
sisters under the name of Ellis Bell, some further 
poems published by her sister Charlotte after her 
death, and the single novel "Wuthering Heights." 

1819-1849 Anne Bronte wrote more than her sister Emily, 
but with less of recognition. She contributed 
verses to the little volume of poems under the 
name of Acton Bell, and additional verses were 
published after her death by Charlotte. In 
addition to this she wrote two novels, the first 
of them "Agnes Grey," and the second "The 
Tenant of Wildfell Hall." This last, curiously 
enough, went into a second edition during Anne's 
lifetime, and she contributed a preface to it defend- 
ing herself against her critics. Neither Anne's 
poetry nor her novels are of any account to-day. 
They would not be read, were it not for the glory 
with which her two sisters have surrounded the 
name of Bronte. 

4 8 



Victorian Literature 

Women novelists have abundantly nourished 
during the Victorian Era, but then the path 
was made easy for them by Jane Austen, 
Maria Edgeworth, and Fanny Burney. By all 
those who delight in debatable comparisons the 
name of George Eliot is frequently brought into 
contrast with that of Charlotte Bronte. George 
Eliot was born at Griff in Warwickshire, her real i8ig-i88o 
name being Mary Ann Evans. She was for a 
time at a school at Nuneaton, and afterwards at 
Coventry. At first she was an evangelical church- 
woman, but about 1842 she became acquainted 
with two or three cultivated women friends at 
whose houses she met Froude, Emerson, and 
Francis Newman, all of whom represented a 
reverent antagonism to supernatural Christianity. 
In conjunction with Sarah Hennell, she undertook 
a translation of Strauss's " Life of Jesus." On her 
father's death, in 1849, she came to London and 
became associated with Dr. Chapman in the editor- 
ship of the Westminster Review. It was her 
friendship with George Henry Lewes, whom she met 
in 185 1, which gave her the first impulse towards 
fiction. Lewes was an active critic, and a writer of 
two now forgotten novels. Miss Evans's " Scenes 
of Clerical Life " were sent to Blackwood's Maga- 
zine in 1856. The stories were a great success. 
Thackeray and Dickens were loud in expressions 
of admiration. In 1859 "Adam Bede " was pub- 
D 49 



Sixty Years of 

lished and made George Eliot famous. " It is the 
finest thing since Shakspere," said Charles Reade. 
Her success, however, did not lead to hasty pro- 
duction. She wrote only six novels during the 
remainder of her life. " I can write no word that 
is not prompted from within," she said. "The 
Mill on the Floss " was written in i860; " Silas 
Marner " in 1861 ; "Romola" in 1863; "Felix 
Holt " in 1866; " Middlemarch " in 1871-1872; 
and "Daniel Deronda " in 1876. 

In 1880 Miss Mary Ann Evans became Mrs. 
Walter Cross, but after a few months of wedded 
life she died of inflammation of the heart at 4 
Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Her husband wrote her 
biography, not with much success. So entirely 
was George Eliot's best mind concentrated 
upon her books, that her letters, and indeed 
her personality, were a disappointment to all but 
a few hero-worshippers. 

The novels, with two volumes of poems and two 
of essays, make up George Eliot's collected works. 
The essays written before and after her novels give, 
like her letters, but few indications of her remark- 
able powers. Nor, although "The Spanish Gipsy" 
is deeply interesting, can her poetry be counted 
for much. " The Choir Invisible " is her best 
known poem. It is by her novels that she must 
be judged, and these, for insight into character, 

50 



Victorian Literature 

analysis of the motives which guide men, and 
sympathy with the intellectual and moral struggles 
which make up so large a part of life, have a 
literary niche to themselves. With singular catho- 
licity she paints the simplest faith and the highest 
idealism. Whether it be an Evangelical clergyman, 
a Dissenting minister, or a Methodist factory-girl, 
she enters into the spirit of their lives with fullest 
sympathy. Carlyle could see in Methodism only 
" a religion fit for gross and vulgar-minded people, 
a religion so-called, and the essence of it cowardice 
and hunger, terror of pain and appetite for pleasure 
both carried to the infinite." George Eliot's sym- 
pathies were wider. She won the heart of Metho- 
dists, who have stood in imagination listening to 
Dinah Morris addressing the Hayslope peasantry, 
as she gained the devotion of Roman Catholics 
like Lord Acton, who have seen in her portrait 
of Savonarola a wise expression of their faith. 
And it is not only in religious matters that 
her sympathies are so broad. The sententious 
dulness of Mr. Macey is as much within the range 
of her feelings as the manliness of Adam Bede or 
the scholastic pride of old Bardo. She feels 
equally for the weak and frivolous Hetty and the 
lofty, self-sustained Romola. " At least eighty 
out of a hundred," she says, " of your adult male 
fellow- Britons returned in the last census are 
neither extraordinarily silly, nor extraordinarily 

51 



Sixty Years of 

wicked, nor extraordinarily wise ; their eyes are 
neither deep and liquid with sentiment, nor spark- 
ling with suppressed witticisms; they have pro- 
bably had no hairbreadth escapes or thrilling 
adventures ; their brains are certainly not pregnant 
with genius, and their passions have not manifested 
themselves at all after the fashion of a volcano. 
They are simply men of complexions more or less 
muddy, whose conversation is more or less bald 
and disjointed. Yet these commonplace people — 
many of them — bear a conscience, and have felt 
the sublime promptings to do the painful right ; 
they have their unspoken sorrows and their sacred 
joys ; their hearts have perhaps gone out towards 
their first-born, and they have mourned over the 
irreclaimable dead. Nay, is there not a pathos in 
their very insignificance, in our comparison of their 
dim and narrow existence with the glorious possi- 
bilities of that human nature which they share? 
Depend upon it you would gain unspeakably if 
you would learn with me to see some of the poetry 
and the pathos, the tragedy and the comedy, lying 
in the experience of a human soul that looks out 
through dull gray eyes, and that speaks in a voice 
of quite ordinary tones." The creations of George 
Eliot — Tito and Baldassare, Mrs. Poyser and 
Silas Marner, Dorothy Brooke and Gwendolen — 
are not as familiar to the reading public of to-day 
as they were to that of ten or fifteen years ago. 

52 



Victorian Literature 

Of the idolatry which almost made her a pro- 
phetess of a new cult we hear nothing now. 
She has not maintained her position as Dickens, 
Thackeray, and Charlotte Bronte have maintained 
theirs. But if there be little of partisanship and 
much detraction, it is idle to deny that George 
Eliot's many gifts, her humour, her pathos, her 
remarkable intellectual endowments, give her an 
assured place among the writers of Victorian 
literature. 

The next in order of prominence among the 
novelists of the period is Charles Kingsley. He 1819-1875 
was born at Holne Vicarage, on the borders of 
Dartmoor, and was educated at King's College, 
London, and Magdalen College, Cambridge. 
After this he received the curacy of Eversley, 
in Hampshire, of which parish he finally became 
rector. In 1848 he published a drama entitled 
"The Saint's Tragedy," with St. Elizabeth of 
Hungary as heroine. A year later his novel of 
"Alton Locke" gained him the title of "The 
Chartist Parson." This tale, in which Carlyle is 
introduced in the person of an old Scotch book- 
seller, was a crude and yet vigorous expression of 
sympathy with the Chartist movement, and its in- 
fluence was tremendous. For its sympathy with 
the working classes, and in its reflection of the 
broad and tolerant Christianity of which Kingsley 

S3 



Sixty Years of 

was always the eloquent preacher, " Alton Locke," 
in common with " Yeast " and " Two Years Ago," 
is a valuable contribution to literature. Kingsley, 
however, became a truer artist when, as in 
" Hypatia " and " Westward Ho ! " he had not 
social and religious ends in view. "Hypatia," 
in spite of many historical errors, is a brilliant 
sketch of the early Church at Alexandria. Gibbon, 
from whom Kingsley obtained the hint for this 
book, would have revelled in the apparent en- 
dorsement by a latter-day clergyman of his estimate 
of the early Christianity of the East. " Westward 
Ho ! " is a picturesque narrative of English rivalry 
with Spain in the reign of Elizabeth. The con- 
trasts of character in Frank and Amyas Leigh 
perhaps give this novel a claim to be considered 
Kingsley's best effort. He wrote many other 
works, including children's stories, scientific lec- 
tures, and poems, among which last the beautiful 
ballads, " The Three Fishers " and " The Sands 
of Dee," are the most popular. For nine years he 
held the office of Professor of Modern History 
at Cambridge University, but his unphilosophical 
views of history made his presence there a mis- 
fortune. A model country clergyman, a man 
essentially healthy-minded and interested in all 
phases of life and thought, Kingsley's influence, 
especially on young men, during the past five- 

54 



Victorian Literature 

and- thirty years, has been very great and very 
beneficial. 

Henry Kingsley, a younger brother of Charles, 1830-1876 
wrote many novels and romances, three of them 
memorable. " Geoffrey Hamlyn " is popular as 
the best novel of Australian life. To Australia 
he had gone to make his fortune at the diggings. 
He did not make a fortune, but joined the colonial 
mounted police instead. Compelled by his office 
to attend an execution, he threw up the post in 
disgust, and returned to England to find his 
brother installed as Vicar of Eversley and on 
the high road to fame. Little wonder that he 
attempted to emulate him, and he succeeded. 

Never, surely, has literature produced two brothers 
so remarkable, and at the same time so different. 
Both gave us energetic heroes, and loved 
manliness. In Charles Kingsley, however, 
the novelist was always largely subordinated to 
the preacher. In Henry there was nothing of 
the preacher whatever. " Geoffrey Hamlyn," 
"Ravenshoe," and "The Hillyars and The 
Burtons " are all forcible, effective works, and they 
have secured generous praise and appreciation 
from many a literary colleague. But Henry was a 
bit of a ne'er-do-well, and so his personality has 
been carefully screened from the public. His 
name is not even mentioned in Charles Kingsley's 

55 



Sixty Years of 

biography. Sir Edwin Arnold, however, who knew 
him at Oxford, and Mrs. Thackeray Ritchie, who 
knew him towards the end of his life, testify to 
certain delightful qualities of mind and heart 
which peculiarly appealed to them. 1 

A writer not less successful than Charles 
Kingsley, but in no way comparable as a man, 
1803-1873 was Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton, who 
was born in London, and created no small sensa- 
tion in 1828 by the publication of " Pelham." 
This was followed by a long list of novels of 
infinite variety. Some dealt with the preternatural 
like " Zanoni," and others with history, psychology, 
and ethics. Of these the most popular were doubt- 
less the historical "Harold," " Rienzi," "The Last 
of the Barons," and " The Last Days of Pompeii," 
which still hold their own with the younger genera- 
tion. The thoughtful men of to-day do not how- 
ever read " The Caxtons " as they did in the sixties 
and seventies. Lytton was one of the cleverest 
men of his age — using the word in no friendly 
sense — he was a clever novelist, a clever dramatist 
(his comedy of " Money," and his tragedies 
" Richelieu " and " The Lady of Lyons," still 

1 Charles Kingsley's novels and miscellaneous writings 
are published by Macmillan & Co., in twenty-nine volumes. 
Henry Kingsley's novels have been recently issued by Ward 
& Lock in twelve volumes. 

56 



Victorian Literature 

hold the stage), and a clever Parliamentary 
debater. 

Another writer, with higher claims to considera- 
tion than those of literature, was Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881 
Earl of Beaconsneld. Disraeli entered life under 
conditions peculiarly favourable to a successful 
literary career. His father, Isaac D' Israeli, was 
an enthusiastic bookworm, whose "Curiosities of 
Literature " and other books are an inexhaustible 
mine of anecdote on the quarrels and calamities 
of authors. The young Disraeli wrote "Vivian 
Grey " in 1827, following this very successful effort 
with "The Young Duke," " Venetia," "Hen- 
rietta Temple," and other novels. In 1837 he 
was returned to Parliament as member for Maid- 
stone. His career as an orator and statesman 
does not concern us here ; suffice to say that of 
his many later novels "Coningsby," " Tancred," 
and "Sybil" are by far the ablest and most 
brilliant, and that "Sybil" was an effective 
exposure of many abuses in the relations of 
capital to labour. In addition to his work as a 
novelist, Lord Beaconsfield wrote an able bio- 
graphy of his friend and colleague, Lord George 
Bentinck. 

One of the most successful of the greater novel- 
ists of the reign was Charles Reade, who first 1814-1884 

57 



Sixty Years of 

became famous by "Peg Woffington " in 1852. 
" The Cloister and the Hearth " was published in 
1861, and " Griffith Gaunt " in 1866. Several of 
his later novels were written " with a purpose." In 
" Hard Cash " he drew attention to the abuses of 
private lunatic asylums; in "Foul Play" he 
aroused public interest in the iniquities of ship- 
knackers; in "Put Yourself in His Place," he 
attacked Trades Unions, and in " Never Too Late 
to Mend " he exposed some of the abuses of our 
prison system as it existed at that time. Reade 
was also an industrious dramatist ; " Masks and 
Faces " and "Drink " are among his most popular 
plays. Of all his books " The Cloister and the 
Hearth " is the best, and also the most widely 
read. It has for its hero the father of Erasmus. 

Those who in days to come will want to know 
what provincial life was really like in England 
in early Victorian times will enquire for the 
1815-1882 novels of Anthony Trollope. " Barchester 
Towers," " Framley Parsonage," and " Dr. 
Thorne " are the most popular of a series of 
tales, in all of which the country life of Eng- 
land, its clergy and squirearchy, are portrayed. 
Trollope wrote on many subjects. His " Life of 
Cicero " secured the commendation of Professor 
Freeman, and his biography of Thackeray, 
though all too slight, is the best book about 

58 



Victorian Literature 

the author of "Vanity Fair" that has so far 
been given us. 

Another novelist of about equal status with 
Trollope in mid- Victorian fiction is George John 
Whyte Melville. Major Whyte Melville is the 1821-1878 
novelist of all lovers of the hunting-field, and 
strangely enough he fell a victim to the very 
sport which he had done so much to picture. 
He was killed by a fall from his horse. Whyte 
Melville's hunting novels include " Katerfelto " 
and " Black but Comely." He also wrote historical 
novels, of which " The Queen's Maries " and " The 
Gladiators " were the most popular, and he had a 
pretty gift of verse. 

Literature has rarely produced a more pic- 
turesque figure than Robert Louis Stevenson. 1850-1894 
The son of a famous Scottish engineer he was 
destined, like his great countryman Sir Walter 
Scott, for a Writership to the Signet. He took, 
however, to literature instead, and died at forty- 
four in Samoa, — where he had gone for his health, 
— after a remarkable literary achievement. With 
a style not always rigidly grammatical, but al- 
ways impressive and distinguished, he shone in 
many branches of literary work. He wrote 
travel pictures like " With a Donkey in the 
Cevennes," which were incomparably superior to 
those of any contemporary ; his plays — written 

59 



Sixty Years of 

in collaboration with Mr. W. E. Henley — had a 
power of their own, and one of them, "Beau 
Austin," although not accepted by the public, 
is probably the greatest contribution to the drama 
of the era. As a critic of life and of books 
Stevenson has also an honourable place. I know 
of no better treatment of the one than " Virginibus 
Puerisque," or of the other than " Some Aspects 
of Robert Burns." He has given abundant 
pleasure to children by " A Child's Garden of 
Verses," and in "Underwoods" he has scarcely 
less successfully appealed to their elders. 

It is as a novelist, however, that Stevenson fills 
the largest place. He is the inheritor of the 
traditions of Scott, with the world-pain of his own 
epoch superadded. Men and boys alike have 
found "Treasure Island" absorbing, while men 
have also pondered over the widely different 
powers which are displayed in " The New Arabian 
Nights " and "The Master of Ballantrae," " Prince 
Otto," and " St. Ives." " Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde " 
is a parable which has thrilled us all. 

Stevenson delighted to call Mr. George Meredith 
his master, and the two men were friends of 
years. George Meredith began his literary career 
in 1 85 1, with a volume of poems, one of which, 
" Love in a Valley," is still an unqualified joy to 
all who read it. Mr. Meredith has published 

60 



Victorian Literature 

several volumes of poems since then, and all of 
them have their loyal admirers, but it is as a 
novelist that the world at large appraises him. 

His concentrated thought and vivid passion 
have gained for him the title of the "Browning 
of novelists." Each of his books in turn has 
had its ardent partisans among cultivated and 
thoughtful readers. " The Shaving of Shagpat " 
appeared in 1856, and "Farina" in 1857. 
"The Ordeal of Richard Feverel," which ap- 
peared in 1859, is by many considered Meredith's 
best novel. It treats, with subtle humour and 
profound philosophical insight, of the problem 
of a youth's education, and is full of truth to life. 
" Feverel " was followed by " Evan Harrington " 
(1861), while "Rhoda Fleming" (1865), "The 
Adventures of Harry Richmond " (1871), "Beau- 
champ's Career " (1876), "The Egoist" (1879), 
"The Tragic Comedians" (1881), and "Diana 
of the Crossways " (1885), have each of them 
abundance of readers. Merely to enumerate 
George Meredith's novels is to call to the 
memory of all who have read them a widening 
of mental and moral vision. The rich vein of 
poetry running through the books, their humour 
and imagination, place their author in the very 
front rank of English novelists. " I should never 
forgive myself," said Robert Louis Stevenson, " if 
I forgot 'The Egoist,' which, of all the novels I 

61 



Sixty Years of 

have read (and I have read thousands), stands in 
a place by itself. I have read ' The Egoist ' five 
or six times, and I mean to read it again." Others 
have spoken with equal enthusiasm of " Sandra 
Belloni," with its sweet singer Emilia; others 
of " Beauchamp's Career," with its aristocratic 
Radical, now generally understood to have been 
intended for Admiral Maxse. 

Mr. Meredith dedicated his volume of "Poems" 
1785-1866 of 1 85 1 to Thomas Love Peacock, who, perhaps, 
more than any other writer influenced his 
own style. Peacock was born at Weymouth, 
and he was mainly self-educated. In 1804 
and 1806 he published two small volumes of 
poetry, "The Monks of St. Mark" and "Pal- 
myra." In 181 2 he became acquainted with 
Shelley, and the two were intimate at Great 
Marlow, where Peacock lived in 181 5, and later. 
Peacock's novels " Headlong Hall " (1816-1817), 
" Melincourt " (181 7), and "Nightmare Abbey" 
(1818), which have been two or three times re- 
printed within the last five or six years, gained no 
commensurate attention on their appearance, 
although one of them was translated into 
French. In 1819 Peacock became a clerk in 
the India House, and married a Welsh girl, 
Jane Gryffdh. " Maid Marion " appeared in 
1822, "Crotchet Castle" in 1831, and in 1837 
"Paper Money Lyrics and other Poems." All 

62 



Victorian Literature 

the novels I have named, and they are his 
most famous, belong to the pre-Victorian period, 
but " Gryll Grange," his last novel, was published 
in 1 86 1. Peacock is interesting as a novelist and 
for his relations with other famous men. He was, 
as I have said, the friend of Shelley, and he was 
the father-in-law of Mr. George Meredith. Added 
to this he succeeded to James Mill's post at the 
India House, and vacated it for James Mill's son, 
John Stuart Mill. 

To R. L. Stevenson we undoubtedly owe much 
of the impulse to the modern romantic movement, 
which adds every day an historical novel or a story 
of adventure to our libraries. It has given us Stanley 
Weyman, "Q" (A. T. Quiller Couch), "Anthony 
Hope," Max Pemberton, and Conan Doyle, the 
creator of Sherlock Holmes. Another Scotsman, 
George MacBonald, whose " Robert Falconer," 1824- 
" David Elginbrod," and "Alec Forbes of How- 
glen" have charmed nearly a generation, had 
less influence than might have been thought 
upon the younger Scottish writers, who have made 
Scottish scenes and Scottish dialect so marked an 
element in many popular works. James Matthew 
Barrie, for example, had written "A Window in 
Thrums," before he had read one of Dr. Mac- 
Donald's books. Mr. Barrie was probably in- 
fluenced, however, by John Gait (1 779-1859), 
whose " Ayrshire Legatees " and " Annals of the 

63 



Sixty Years of 

Parish" were written before the Queen began to 
reign. 

A writer whose most striking book was published 
sufficiently long ago to justify its inclusion here, was 

1834- Joseph Henry Shorthouse. His " John Inglesant " 
gained for him a reputation which his " Sir Perci- 
val " did not sustain. Mr. Shorthouse has written 
nothing since "John Inglesant" so beautiful as 
his " Little Schoolmaster Mark," a singularly 
poetical conception of abnormal childhood. 

The best stories for children have been written 

1833- by Lewis Carroll. This is the pseudonym of the 
Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer on 
mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, and the 
author of several mathematical text-books. In 
" Euclid and his Modern Rivals " and " A Tangled 
Tale," Mr. Dodgson has succeeded in combining 
his taste for science with a rich humour, 
but his fame rests upon his remarkable fairy- 
stories, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," pub- 
lished in 1865, and its sequel, "Through the 
Looking-Glass," which appeared in 1872. Men 
and women, quite as much as little children, have 
found pleasure and entertainment in these happy 
efforts of a genius as individual as anything our age 
has produced. 

I have purposely all but ignored many writers 
of fiction who are still actively engaged in literary 

64 



Victorian Literature 

pursuits. The daily journals bring their achieve- 
ments sufficiently to the front. But literary 
workers owe so much to the untiring zeal of Sir 
Walter Besant in their behalf, that at the risk of 1838- 
inconsistency, I mention his "All Sorts and 
Conditions of Men," a story which not only sold 
by thousands, but had a practical influence such 
as is rarely given to poet or novelist to achieve. 
The writer dreams of a wealthy heiress devoting 
her time and money to purifying and elevating the 
East End of London. She builds a Palace of 
Delight, and devotes it to the service of the people. 
In May, 1887, the dream was realised, for the 
Queen opened just such a Palace for the People in 
the Mile-End Road. How far this institution, the 
outcome of a novelist's imagination and the 
generous subscriptions of philanthropists, has 
achieved the regeneration of the London poor, 
history has yet to record. Sir Walter Besant 
wrote at an earlier period twelve novels in con- 
junction with James Rice, a collaborator of singu- 1843-1882 
lar humour and imagination. Of the books written 
conjointly "Ready Money Mortiboy" and "The 
Golden Butterfly " are the most popular. 

Passing from the acknowledged masters in 
imaginative literature, one turns to a crowd of 
popular and interesting writers who have charmed 
and delighted multitudes of readers. Foremost 

E 6$ 



Sixty Years of 

among these are Lever and Marryat. Charles 

1806-1872 Lever was for some time editor of the Dublin 
University Magazine, but his Irish stories, 
"Charles O'Malley " and "Harry Lorrequer" 
are his chief title to fame. That the rollicking 
humour, of these books still commands attention 
is proved by a recent luxurious re-issue of them. 1 

Another Irishman, who won the affections of 
Irishmen as Lever won their laughter, was William 

1798-1869 Carleton, who was born at Prillisk, county Tyrone. 
He was the youngest of fourteen children. His 
equal knowledge of Irish and English gave him an 
intimacy with the folk-lore and fairy tales, which 
make up so large a part in the lives of the poorer 
among his countrymen, and "Traits and Stories 
of the Irish Peasantry" (1833) and "Tales of 
Ireland" (1834) were the result. His romance, 
"Fardorougha the Miser," appeared in 1839, and 
he treated in 1847 of the horrors of the Irish 
famine in his "Black Prophet." Carleton has 
for many years ceased to be read in England, 
but he shares in the revived interest in Irish 
literature, which has taken the place of interest 

1814-1873 in Irish politics. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu also 
made a great success with "Uncle Silas " (1864) 
and " In a Glass Darkly " (1872). 

1792-1848 Frederick Marryat ran away to sea several 

1 " The Collected Works of Charles Lever." Downey 
& Co. 

66 



Victorian Literature 

times before his father, a member of Parliament of 
great wealth, consented to his being a sailor. He 
was a successful and popular naval officer before 
he was twenty-one. He was thirty-seven years 
of age when he wrote his first novel, " Frank 
Mildmay," the success of which led him to adopt 
literature as the profession of his later life. Of 
his many novels, of which " Mr. Midshipman Easy " 
and " Peter Simple " are perhaps the best, several 
appeared in the Metropolitan Magazine, which 
Marryat edited for four years. Not only is 
Marryat the most delightful of writers for boys, 
but it is interesting to note that both Carlyle 
and Ruskin during long terms of illness solaced 
themselves with his wonderful sea-stories. 

A writer who gave much healthy pleasure 
to schoolboys was William Henry Giles King- 1814-1880 
ston, who left behind him one hundred and 
twenty-five stories of the sea. Another writer 
for boys, William Harrison Ainsworth, was the 1805-1882 
son of a Manchester solicitor. The majority of 
his thirty novels treat of historical themes. The 
best of them, "Old St. Paul's," "The Tower of 
London," and "Rookwood," have been trans- 
lated into most modern languages. Scarcely less 
popular for a time was G. P. R. James, who also 1801-1860 
dealt freely with history. Thackeray burlesqued 
James so skilfully that he has already become 

67 



Sixty Years of 

a tradition. He was British Consul in Virginia, 
and afterwards at Venice, where he died. 

Living English novelists of well-deserved popu- 
larity, are Mr. Hardy, Mr. Black, and Mr. Blackmore. 

1840- Thomas Hardy made his earlier fame by " Far 
from the Madding Crowd " (1874). He made his 
later popularity by " Tess of the D'Urbervilles " 
(1892). Between these books came two stories 
greater than either — " The Return of the Native " 
(1878) and "The Woodlanders " (1887). One 
must read those books to appreciate how very 
great a novelist Mr. Hardy is, how full of poetry 
and of insight. The Dorsetshire landscape which, 
under the guise of "Wessex," he has made so 
familiar, will be classic ground for many a day to 
all lovers of good literature. 

1 841- Although William Black, who was born in Glas- 
gow, has written numerous stories about the West 
Highlands of Scotland, he has no affinity whatever 
to the new Scotch school. He made his first 
appearance as a novelist in 1867 with "Love or 
Marriage," and almost every year since he has 
published a story, over thirty novels now bearing 
his name. Black has recognised the value of the 
picturesque back-ground afforded by West High- 
land scenery, with its accompanying incidents in 
the outdoor life of the deer stalker and angler. 
He has given us some real characterisation in 

68 



Victorian Literature 

"A Daughter of Heth" (1871), in " Madcap 
Violet" (1876) : while "Macleod of Dare" (1878) 
is perhaps the best thing he has written. 

Richard Doddridge Blackmore has written many 1825- 
interesting novels, but it has been his perverse fate 
to live by only one of them. " Lorna Doone " was 
published in 1869, and although received coldly at 
first, finally achieved great popularity : and visits 
to the Lorna Doone country, as that part of Devon- 
shire is called, make part of the travelled educa- 
tion of every literary American. As a master of 
rustic comedy he stands unexcelled in our day, and 
the merits of certain other novels — " The Maid of 
Sker," " Christowell," and " Cripps the Carrier " — 
may some day become more fully recognised. 

Not less popular than the novelist of locality — 
for this description may surely be applied to Mr. 
Hardy and the two other writers I have named — is 
the novelist of sensation. William Wilkie Collins 1824-1889 
was the most prominent exponent of that School. 
"The Woman in White," which appeared in i860 
in All the Year Round, took^the town by storm, 
but Count Fosco would be pronounced a tiresome 
villain to-day. With " The Moonstone " and " The 
New Magdalen " Wilkie Collins secured almost 
equal success. Although it has been affirmed that a 
new Wilkie Collins, that is to say a novelist of pure 

69 



Sixty Years of 

sensation, might even now have a great vogue, it is 
quite certain that the actual Wilkie Collins has lost 
the greater part of his. 1 Another novelist who 
presents himself as little more than a name to the 
1807-1877 present generation is Samuel Warren. He was a 
doctor, and, like his homotype, Mr. Conan Doyle 
half a century later, studied medicine at the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh. His "Passages from the 
Diary of a Late Physician " began in Black- 
wood's Magazine in 1830, and was well received, 
but a still greater success attended his "Ten 
Thousand a Year," which appeared first in the 
same periodical. 

Time has dealt unkindly with Samuel Warren : 
it is yet to be seen how time will deal with another 
1820-1887 popular favourite, Mrs. Henry Wood, who was born 
in Worcestershire and made the city of Worcester 
the centre of many of her stories. The " Chan- 
nings " and " Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles " are her 
best novels, and they have had a well-deserved 
popularity, for Mrs. Wood had a splendid faculty 
for telling a story. Her even more popular novel, 
"East Lynne,"will probably survive for many a 
year as a stage play. 



Next to Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot the 

1 of th 
Chat 

70 



1 A New Library Edition of the novels of Wilkie Collins 
has just been published by Chatto and Windus. 



Victorian Literature 

most distinguished woman novelist of the era is 
Mrs. Gaskell, who, as Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, 1810-1865 
married William Gaskell, a Unitarian minister of 
Manchester. Mrs. GaskelPs first literary success 
was "Mary Barton," the story of a Manchester 
factory girl. " Ruth," " North and South," and 
** Sylvia's Lovers " were equally successful, but the 
two books which are certain to secure immortality 
to their author are "Cranford " (1853) and "The 
Life of Charlotte Bronte" (1857). "Cranford" 
is an idyll of village life which is sure to charm 
many generations of readers, and not a few artists 
have delighted to illustrate its quaint and fascinat- 
ing character studies. " Cranford " has been iden- 
tified with Knutsford in Cheshire. Mrs. Gaskell's 
biography of her friend Charlotte Bronte has 
probably had a larger sale than any other bio- 
graphy in our literature. Many causes contributed 
to this — the popularity of the Bronte novels, the 
exceptionally romantic and pathetic life of their 
authors, Mrs. Gaskell's own fame as a writer of 
fiction, and the literary skill with which she treated 
the material at her command. 

Other women writers who have had a large 
measure of fame, and are now well-nigh forgotten, 
are Mrs. Marsh (1791-1874), who wrote "The 
Admiral's Daughter " and " The Deformed," Mrs. 
Crowe (1800-1876), who wrote "Susan Hopley " 

71 



Sixty Years of 

and "The Night Side of Nature," Mrs. Archer 
Clive (1801-1873), who wrote "Paul Ferroll," 
Lady Georgiana Fullerton (18 12-1885), tne author 
of "Ann Sherwood," Mrs. Stretton (1812-1878), 
who wrote "The Valley of a Hundred Fires." 

All these are now little more than names to us, 

1800-1879 but not so Anne Manning, whose " Maiden and 
Married Life of Mary Powell " will long continue to 
be read. It is an effective presentation of Milton 

1808-1877 and his first wife. Mrs. Norton, " the Byron of 
poetesses," as Lockhart described her, wrote several 
novels, " Stuart of Dunleath " and " Lost and 
Saved " being perhaps the best known in their time, 
but she lives now mainly in George Meredith's 

1826-1887 " Diana of the Crossways." Dinah Mulock (Mrs. 
Craik) may still be ranked among our most popular 
novelists, although her best and most successful 
book "John Halifax, Gentleman," was published 

1824-1877 m 1857. The memory of Julia Kavanagh, al- 
though her " Madeleine " was enthusiastically 
greeted on its appearance, has all but faded 
away. Miss Kavanagh's " Woman in France in 
the 18th Century," "English Women of Letters," 
and " French Women of Letters " were handsomely 
got-up books, and are still to be found in many 
old-fashioned libraries. 

Two of the most popular writers for children 

72 



Victorian Literature 

were A. L. O. E. and Mrs. Ewing. A. L. O. E., 
or A Lady of England, was the pseudonym of 
Charlotte Maria Tucker, who after many years of 1821-1893 

successful literary labour, went out to India for 
the Church Missionary Society, at the age of fifty- 
four. Miss Tucker's most popular stories were 
"Pride and his Pursuers," "Exiles in Babylon," 
" House Beautiful," and " Cyril Ashley." Scarcely 
less popular was Mrs. Ewing, whose mother, Mrs. 1841-1885 
Gatty, edited Aunt Judy's Magazine. It was in 
this magazine that Mrs. Ewing's " Remembrances 
of Mrs. Overtheway " made their appearance. 

Another writer of great popularity, Mrs. Charles, 1828-1896 
secured an immense success with " The Schonberg- 
Cotta Family," "Kitty Trevelyan's Diary," and 
other books of a semi-religious, semi-historical 
tendency. It is a natural association, not derived 
from similarity of name, to mention Maria Louisa 
Charlesworth at the same time, because Miss 1819-1880 
Charles worth's " Ministering Children " had an 
enormous success with the religious public of 
England, the public which supports Missionary 
Societies and Sunday Schools. 

I might easily devote many pages to the living 
women novelists who have impressed themselves 
upon the era ; but that scarcely comes within the 
scope of this little book. There are, to name but 

73 



Sixty Years of 

a few, Mrs. Lynn Linton, Mrs. Humphry Ward, 
Ouida, Miss Braddon, Miss Marie Corelli, Miss 
Olive Schreiner, Miss Rhoda Broughton, Edna 
Lyall, Lucas Malet, Miss Charlotte Yonge, Miss 
Adeline Sergeant, Mrs. Macquoid, Mrs. Alexander, 
Mrs. W. K. Clifford — names which recall to 
thousands of readers many familiar books and 
some of the happiest hours they have ever spent. 

1828-1897 With the name of Mrs. Oliphant, who has 
recently died, I may fitly close this survey of 
Victorian fiction. Mrs. Oliphant struck the note 
of the era alike in her versatility and in her lack 
of thoroughness. She was so versatile that she once 
offered to write a whole number of Blackwood's 
Magazine, a publication to which she was for years 
a valued contributor. And she would have done 
it with fair effectiveness. That she wrote good 
fiction is now generally acknowledged. She wrote 
also biography, criticism, and every form of 
prose. Her "Makers of Florence" has been a 
popular history, — it treats of Dante, Giotto, and 
Savonarola, — as her " Life of Edward Irving " has 
been a popular biography. She wrote many other 
books apart from her fiction, " A History of 
Eighteenth Century Literature," a "Memoir of 
Principal Tulloch," biographies of Cervantes and 
Moliere, and a volume on " Dress." But she was 
not a good critic, nor was she a very accurate 

74 



Victorian Literature 

student. It is upon her novels that her fame will 
have to rest. " Salem Chapel," a skilful delinea- 
tion of a minister and his congregation, has been 
compared to George Eliot's "Silas Marner." 
" Passages in the Life of Margaret Maitland " 
(1849) was ner fi rst nove l an d " The Lady's Walk " 
(1897) her last, and in the intervening years she 
probably wrote sixty or seventy stories, each of 
them containing indications of a genius which, 
with more concentration, would have given her 
an enduring place in English fiction. 



75 



CHAPTER III 

The Historians 

HTHE reign of Victoria has been pre-eminently 
■*■ the reign of the historian in our literature. 
Greater poets we had seen in the reigns of the 
Georges, greater essayists in the reign of Anne. 
But Grote and Carlyle, Macaulay and Gardiner, 
Bishop Stubbs and Dr. Freeman had no counter- 
parts in an earlier age — always excepting the 
one great name of Gibbon. Before them there 
were chroniclers of contemporary events and 
pamphleteers under the guise of historians, but 
little more. Goldsmith's histories are the 
laughing-stock of those to whom the modern 
methods of research are familiar, and even Hume 
had little of the spirit of the genuine student. 
Hallam and Lingard were the pioneers in this 
branch of literature, although both of them had 
done their work before Queen Victoria came to 
the throne. 

Henry Hallam was born at Windsor, where his 1777-1859 
father held a canonry. His first great work, 
entitled " View of the State of Europe during the 

77 



Sixty Years of 

Middle Ages," was published in 1818, and his 
" Constitutional History of England, from the 
Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George 
II.," in 1827. In 1838 he produced his " Intro- 
duction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, 
Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries." Of these 
three works the first and the last are valuable, 
mainly for their stimulus to the more philo- 
sophical and imaginative work of later writers, 
but the "Constitutional History" remains the text- 
book for the period which it covers. Macaulay 
praised it highly, possibly because of the Whiggism 
which undoubtedly underlies some of the more 
debatable propositions in the book ; but Macaulay 
and many other writers have disputed the correct- 
ness of many of Hallam's judgments. To write 
the constitutional history of England from the 
earliest period to the year 1485, where Hallam 
begins, was a far more difficult undertaking than to 
deal with the reigns of the Tudors and the Stuarts. 
This work devolved on Dr. Stubbs. 
1825- William Stubbs, who was appointed Bishop of 

Oxford in 1889, was born at Knaresborough, and 
was educated at Ripon Grammar School and at 
Christ Church, Oxford. In 1850 he became vicar 
of Navestock, in Essex, and in 1862 he was made 
librarian at Lambeth Palace. His editions of 
mediaeval chronicles were well calculated to smooth 
the path of any future historian, and the critical 

78 



Victorian Literature 

introductions showed the profound scholarship of 
the editor. Probably no one man has done so 
much to throw light on the obscure by-ways of 
history, and as Regius Professor of Modern His- 
tory at Oxford, a post he accepted in 1866, he 
gave so great a stimulus to historical study that 
many brilliant writers have since been proud to 
call him "master." In 1870 he published his 
" Select Charters," of which the " Introductions " 
are also invaluable, and between 1874 and 1878 
he wrote his great work, " The Constitutional 
History of England in its Origin and Develop- 
ment," the three volumes of which carry us down 
to the death of Richard III. The book is pro- 
foundly scientific in its method, but it is a mis- 
taken, although popular, belief which classes Dr. 
Stubbs among Dryasdust investigators. The work 
glows with life and interest, and is full of suggestive 
parallels for modern political society. 

The work of tracing the growth of the English 
constitution, which had been so worthily begun by 
Hallam, and continued in so wise and scholarly a 
fashion by Bishop Stubbs, was carried on by Sir 
Thomas Erskine May, who, a few days before his 1815-1886 
death, was created Baron Farnborough. After a 
long official career in connection with the House 
of Commons, he was appointed Clerk to the House 
in 187 1. In addition to several publications deal- 
ing with Parliamentary forms, and a book on 

79 



Sixty Years of 

" Democracy in Europe," he wrote a " Constitu- 
tional History since the Accession of George III.," 
thus continuing the work from the point at which 
Hallam had dropped it, and completing a continu- 
ous history of the English Constitution. 

When we turn to what is more popularly under- 
stood by the history of a country, the political and 
social life of peoples, and the wars and conquests 
of nations, we are not less fortunate in the results 

1771-1851 attained. John Lingard had, it is true, written his 
great work before 1837. "The History of Eng- 
land, from the First Invasion by the Romans to 
the Commencement of the Reign of William 
III.," appeared in eight volumes between 18 19 and 
1830. Lingard was the son of a Winchester car- 
penter. He was for some time the Professor 
of Moral Philosophy at a Roman Catholic 
College. His religious views doubtless affected, 
in considerable measure, his judgment of events, 
especially in the reign of Henry VIII., but he is a 
fairly impartial historian. He confesses that he 
has been more anxious to arrive at the facts than 
troubled as to the garb in which those facts were 
presented to the public, and his work is really very- 
dull in consequence. A contemporary of Lingard, 
who covered much of the same historic ground, was 
Sharon Turner (1 768-1 847), and yet another was 

1807-1857 John Mitchell Kemble, whose " Saxons in England " 
(1849) ^l fiH s a useful place. Another distin- 
80 



Victorian Literature 

guished writer, of what we may term the earlier 
school of historical research, was Sir Francis 
Palgrave, one of whose accomplished sons, Francis 1788-1861 
Turner Palgrave, is still living (born 1824), whilom 
Professor of Poetry at Oxford and the friend of 
Tennyson, the author of excellent verse, and, 
moreover, the editor of that incomparable volume, 
the " Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics." Sir 
Francis was the son of a Jewish stockbroker 
named Cohen, and changed his name on becom- 
ing a Christian. His best book, the " History of 
Normandy and of England," lost much of its 
value by the publication of Freeman's monu- 
mental work, " The History of the Norman Con- 
quest." 

Edward Augustus Freeman was born at Har- 1823-1892 
borne, in Staffordshire, and educated at Trinity 
College, Oxford. His first work was a " History of 
Architecture," published in 1849. In 1863 he 
issued the first volume of a " History of Federal 
Government." The "History of the Norman 
Conquest," in five large volumes, appeared 
between 1867 and 1876, and the "Reign of 
William Rufus, and Accession of Henry I.," in 
1882. His "Old English History" was a most 
delightful collection of the primitive stories which 
have always had a great fascination for beginners 
in history. There was scarcely any period of Euro- 
pean history with which the author of the " Norman 



Sixty Years of 

Conquest" did not show a thorough familiarity. 
No historian has had a keener grasp of hard 
solid facts, or is more able to make common-sense 
deductions from them. «' I am quite unable," he 
candidly confessed, " to appreciate physical or 
metaphysical works in any language," and he hated 
literary discussion, which he contemptuously termed 
" Chatter about Harriet," in reference to the de- 
batable question of Shelley's treatment of his 
wife. Perhaps this lack of breadth did not 
materially spoil him for his work. Of his 
many volumes of histories and essays, those on 
the " Norman Conquest " must be given the 
first place. It has been said, indeed, that the 
work takes as long to read as the event took to 
achieve, but it is worth reading nevertheless. 
The battle of Hastings, or, as Mr. Freeman would 
say, of Senlac, was a turning-point in our national 
history, and we have here the most complete 
description of that great struggle. Since Free- 
man's death some attempt has been made to 
question his accuracy and his scholarship ; but 
it has not amounted to very much. When Dr. 
Stubbs, with whom difference of political views 
has in no way impaired a lifelong friendship, was 
appointed Bishop of Chester in 1884, Mr. Freeman 
succeeded him as Regius Professor of Modern 
History at Oxford, where he was followed on his 
death by Mr. Froude. 

82 



Victorian Literature 

It would be hard to find a greater contrast, 
both in method and in manner, than between 
Edward Freeman and James Anthony Froude. 
Freeman's style, though clear and trenchant, 
was never brilliant; Froude's language compares 
with that of the best artists in literature. Free- 
man was always scrupulously exact, never at fault 
in a fact or a date; Froude was notoriously 
careless, and slipped at every turn. Freeman 
cared nothing for theories; Froude was never 
so happy as when he stopped abruptly in a de- 
scription to discourse on the mysteries of Pro- 
vidence or the follies of mankind. Between men 
of such opposite natures no friendship was possible, 
and in the Saturday Review and other periodicals 
Freeman commented vigorously, and not always 
fairly, on the other's inaccuracy. 

James Anthony Froude was one of three gifted 1818-1894 
brothers, another being William Froude (1810- 
1879), the mathematician and engineer; and the 
third, Richard Hurrell Froude (1 803-1 836), a 
leader of the Tractarian movement, whose 
" Literary Remains " were published after his 
death by Keble and Newman. Froude was 
educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and for a 
time came under the influence of the movement 
of which his elder brother was a leading spirit, 
but ultimately he abandoned supernatural Christ- 
ianity altogether, substituting for it a kind of 

83 



Sixty Years of 

poetic Theism which he partly adopted from 
Carlyle. In 1847 he published anonymously two 
novels, "The Spirit's Trials " and "The Lieutenant's 
Daughter," which contained some not very generous 
criticisms on his brother and former friends. His 
"Nemesis of Faith," which appeared in 1848, was 
a further criticism of the doctrines which he had 
abandoned. Between the years 1856 and 1869 he 
published the twelve volumes of his great work, 
" The History of England, from the Fall of Wolsey 
to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada," which 
achieved a great and, in many respects, a well- 
deserved popularity. Rarely indeed has history 
been written with so much brilliancy and pictur- 
esque power. The earlier volumes have been much 
discredited among historical students : yet we would 
not willingly miss such delightful word-painting as 
his description of the Pilgrimage of Grace and 
other scenes in the career of the Eighth Henry, 
whom he selected for rehabilitation. It was, of 
course, a vain and impossible task to remove the 
odium which has settled upon the name of 
Henry VIII. ; but it was as well that the attempt 
should be made. Henry had appeared to the 
mass of modern Englishmen as an old-world ogre, 
and Mr. Froude has at least enabled them to see 
that he was after all a man. Mr. Freeman, himself 
the most conscientious and laborious of writers, 
expressed his hearty contempt for an author who 

84 



Victorian Literature 

professed in the preface to his history that he took 
up the subject because he had " nothing better to 
do." As, however, Froude warmed to his work his 
book increased in value, and there are few who will 
deny the most sterling worth to his " Edward VI.," 
" Mary," and " Elizabeth." His escape from Trac- 
tarianism had made him unfriendly to all kindred 
movements, and his views of the struggle between 
Catholicism and Evangelicalism in the sixteenth 
century are more worthy of a Puritan divine than 
of an academic writer of our own day. But we can 
forgive all this, and much more, to one who has 
described with so much delicate fancy the adven- 
turous life of Drake and Hawkins, the intrigues of 
the Scottish Queen, and the restless fickleness and 
untruthfulness of Elizabeth. His exquisite literary' 
style and general breadth of sympathy are shown 
in such passages as his sketch of the rise of 
Protestantism and the execution of More and 
Fisher : — 

" Whilst we exult in that chivalry with which the 
Smithfield martyrs bought England's freedom with 
their blood, so we will not refuse our admiration to 
those other gallant men whose high forms in the 
sunset of the old faith, stand transfigured on the 
horizon, tinged with the light of its dying glory." * 

Inaccuracy and tactlessnes's, however, seemed to 
haunt Mr. Froude like evil spirits. He wrote a 
1 Froude's " History of England," vol. ii. chap. ix. 

85 



Sixty Years of 

series of articles on Thomas a Becket, but the 
numerous mistakes and misstatements brought 
down on him once again the strictures of Mr. 
Freeman. He wrote a biography of Carlyle, to 
whom he acted as literary executor, and the whole 
of the literary world was in arms at the revelations 
of Carlyle's somewhat unamiable relations with his 
wife, and of his too contemptuous sentiments about 
many personal friends. Still, Mr. Froude's great 
literary faculty will secure to this biography a far 
greater permanence than will fall to the lot of the 
thousand and one memoirs which have appeared 
during the reign. Even should Carlyle's writings 
cease to be generally studied, it is not improbable 
that Froude's " Life of Carlyle " will always be 
read as an important chapter in literary history. 
In this connection I cannot do better than quote 
from an unpublished letter from Sir Fitz James Ste- 
phen, Mr. Froude's co-executor, to Mr. Froude : — 
" For about fifteen years I was the intimate 
friend and constant companion of both you and 
Mr. Carlyle, and never in my life did I see any one 
man so much devoted to any other as you were to 
him during the whole of that period of time. The 
most affectionate son could not have acted better 
to the most venerated father. You cared for him, 
soothed him, protected him as a guide might pro- 
tect a weak old man down a steep and painful 
path. The admiration you habitually expressed 

86 



Victorian Literature 

for him both morally and intellectually was un- 
qualified. You never said to me one ill-natured 
word about him down to this day. It is to me 
wholly incredible that anything but a severe regard 
for truth, learnt to a great extent from his teaching, 
could ever have led you to embody in your por- 
trait of him a delineation of the faults and weak- 
nesses which mixed with his great qualities. 

" Of him I will make only one remark in justice to 
you. He did not use you well. He threw upon 
you the responsibility of a decision which he ought 
to have taken himself in a plain, unmistakable way. 
He considered himself bound to expiate the wrongs 
which he had done to his wife. If he had done 
this himself it would have been a courageous thing ; 
but he did not do it himself. He did not even 
decide for himself that it should be done after his 
death. If any courage was shown in the matter, it 
was shown by you, and not by him. You took the 
responsibility of deciding for him that it ought to 
be done. You took the odium of doing it, of 
avowing to the world the faults and weaknesses of 
one whom you regarded as your teacher and 
master. In order to present to the world a true 
picture of him as he really was, you, well knowing 
what you were about, stepped into a pillory in 
which you were charged with treachery, violation 
of confidence, and every imaginable base motive, 
when you were in fact guilty of no other fault than 

87 



Sixty Years of 

that of practising Mr. Carlyle's great doctrine that 
men ought to tell the truth." 

Mr. Froude has other claims to remembrance. 
In his " Short Studies on Great Subjects," many of 
them essays written for Fraser's Magazine, of which 
he was for a long time editor, are some very wise 
and thoughtful papers, particularly one on the Book 
of Job. His "Life of Bunyan " is characteristic, as 
is also his "Life of Caesar." Carlyle taught him 
hero-worship, and from Carlyle also he learnt the 
disposition which inspired his powerful book, " The 
English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century." 

He also wrote two picturesque books of travel, 
and three volumes of lectures * delivered at Oxford 
during his occupancy of the chair of history, which 
had been previously held in succession by his two 
great rivals, Bishop Stubbs and Dr. Freeman. 

The historian who devoted himself most ear- 
nestly to Mr. Froude's chief historical period, and 
whose writings were in some measure a reply to 
1810-1879 his, was the Rev. John Sherren Brewer, who for 
many years was Professor of English Literature at 
King's College, London. Brewer's chief work, a 
"Calendar of Letters and Papers, Foreign and 
Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIIL," comes 
down, however, to 1530, the year in which Mr. 
Froude's history commences, and thus Brewer 

1 " Lectures on the Council of Trent," " English Seamen in 
the Sixteenth Century/' and " Life and Letters of Erasmus." 



Victorian Literature 

stands alone as an authority on Henry's early reign. 
A compressed work in one volume, " The Reign 
of Henry VIII.," was published after his death. 
Mr. Froude concludes his narrative at the year 
1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, but no 
recent writer of mark has treated of the closing 
years of Elizabeth's reign in any detail, although 
we owe to Major Martin Hume a well- written 
study entitled "The Year after the Armada." 
Major Hume, who is the best living authority upon 
this period, has also written upon " The Courtships 
of Queen Elizabeth," and has edited for the Public 
Record Office the Calendar of Spanish State 
Papers of Elizabeth. 

The next great period of English history, that 
of the Stuart kings, is dealt with by Professor 
Gardiner. Samuel Rawson Gardiner was born at 1829- 
Ropley, in Hampshire, and was educated at Win- 
chester and at Christ Church, Oxford. His whole 
life has been devoted to the most laborious re- 
search in the annals of the reigns of James I., 
Charles I., and the Protectorate of Cromwell. 
He has not, like Mr. Froude, taken up history as a 
pleasant literary recreation, but has given years of un- 
remitting labour to the production of each separate 
volume. He is now well into the study of the 
Protectorate, the first volume of his history of which 
appeared in 1894. He has written many minor 

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Sixty Years of 

books, one dealing with "The Gunpowder Plot," 
and another with " Cromwell's Place in History." 
Mr. Gardiner will not perhaps be counted a brilliant 
writer. He gives us none of the fire and eloquence, 
almost bordering on poetry, which we find so 
abundantly in Froude ; but he has been described 
by Sir John Seeley as the only historian who has 
trodden the controversial ground of seventeenth- 
century English political history with absolute 
fairness and impartiality. James and Charles, 
Buckingham and Bristol, Strafford and Pym, 
stand out in clear and well-defined lineaments. 
There is no hero-worship to blind us ; no flowing 
rhetoric to atone for insufficient knowledge. We 
see these men in their weakness and in their 
strength, neither side monopolising the virtue and 
the patriotism, but each, on occasion, acting from 
noble or ignoble motives. It may be urged that 
too much attention is devoted to the follies of 
princes and the intrigues of courtiers, and cer- 
tainly of the inner life of the nation we get all too 
little in Mr. Gardiner's pages : but it may be fairly 
said that these books are the safest and best of 
guides to one of the most important and critical 
periods in our political history. It is impossible to 
avoid contrasting Mr. Gardiner with a far more 
popular and more brilliant historian, Lord Mac- 
aulay, and the contrast is, in some respects, in 
favour of the former. Mr. Gardiner sees that in 

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dealing with the complexities of human motives we 
are on very uncertain and delicate ground. We 
need to pause step by step to weigh probabilities 
and to qualify our every statement, although such 
hesitancy and qualification is not conducive to 
brilliant writing. 

The importance of this rhetorical principle was 
fully grasped by Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1800-1859 
and, accordingly, in his writings a single definite 
and distinct motive is seized upon as the guiding 
principle of every action, and, by the simple plan 
of ignoring complexities in human character, we 
are carried along in an easy manner to positive 
and undoubting opinions. " I wish," said Lord 
Melbourne, " that I were as cock-sure of anything 
as Tom Macaulay is of everything;" and the 
remark hit off an undoubted failing, at least from 
the standpoint of sound and trustworthy workman- 
ship. Macaulay, whose father was a distinguished 
philanthropist and slavery abolitionist, was born at 
Rothley Temple, in Leicestershire. From a private 
school he went to Trinity College, Cambridge. 
His earliest efforts in literature were articles for 
Knight's Quarterly Magazine, and contributions 
to the Edinburgh Review, the first of which, on 
" Milton," drew from Lord Jeffrey the remark, 
"The more I think the less I can conceive where 
you picked up that style." Perhaps Macaulay's 

9 1 



Sixty Years of 

essays have been more popular even than his history. 
The extraordinary knowledge they display, the 
discursive familiarity with all poetry and fiction, 
ancient and modern, and their enthusiastic interest 
in historical events, make them a kind of education 
to men whose reading has been slight, or who are 
beginners in the art of reading — an art at which 
Macaulay was such an adept. In 1830 Macaulay 
entered Parliament as member for Calne, and 
four years later received the post of member of 
the Indian Council at Calcutta, with a salary of 
;£i 0,000 a year. He left India in 1838, having 
rendered great service to that country by assist- 
ing to frame the Indian penal code. After his 
return to England he sat in Parliament for many 
years as member for Edinburgh, and for a short 
time held a seat in Lord Melbourne's Cabinet. 
Some of his speeches in the House were among 
the most eloquent and successful to which that 
assembly has listened. In 1849 the first two 
volumes of his "History of England from the 
Accession of James II." were published. The 
great success of these and the succeeding volumes 
made him one of the most popular authors of his 
day. In 1857 Macaulay was made a Peer, but he 
never spoke in the House of Lords. He died in 
December 1859, before he had finished the 
" Reign of William III.," and was buried in 
Westminster Abbey. During the later years of 

9 2 



Victorian Literature 

Macaulay's life, and for many years after his death, 
he received the unstinted praise, not only of the 
great mass of readers, but even of cultured brother 
authors. Of late years this has changed; a re- 
action has set in, and perhaps the time has not 
yet come to assign to him his true place in 
literature. When Sir George Trevelyan's admirable 
life of his uncle appeared in 1876, a number of 
eminent writers based upon that book a criticism 
of Macaulay's work. Mr. Gladstone wrote in the 
Quarterly Review, Mr. Leslie Stephen in the 
Cornhill Magazine, and Mr. John Morley in the 
Fortnightly Review. In each separate case the 
review was unfavourable. All alike agreed as to 
his high qualities as a man; his sincerity, 
generosity, kindliness, and purity, his love of 
children, and his brotherly devotion ; but each in 
turn found matter for censure in his work. One 
condemned his style, another his Whig partialities, 
another his boundless optimism, and another his 
errors of judgment or alleged misstatements of facts. 
It is true that Macaulay is sometimes inaccurate, that 
he is not seldom unjust to the characters whom he 
paints so vividly. It is now a commonplace to say 
that his history was written, as Carlyle said, " to 
prove that Providence was on the side of the Whigs." 
It is clear that he was a man of strong literary 
prejudices, and he undoubtedly owes much of his 
popularity to the fact that he expresses in grandly 

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Sixty Years of 

rhetorical language the average sentiment of his 
day, its belief in material prosperity, and its de- 
light in being told that there has been no age of 
the world so happy as our own. All this is true, 
and yet it is also true that Macaulay's real services 
to literature are lost sight of when such an estimate 
is propounded too harshly. 

In spite of obvious deficiencies, Macaulay's 
history is a great work. It fills up a gap in 
historical literature, and such incidents as the 
trial of the seven bishops and the siege of 
Londonderry excel both in picturesqueness and 
in accuracy. But Macaulay has claims far byond 
his merits as a historian. The critics who con- 
demn him so freely seem to have forgotten their 
own early years. " If I am in the wrong," said 
Macaulay of his history, " I shall at least have 
set the minds of others at work." He has set the 
minds of others at work. What cultivated man or 
woman lives, with whom Macaulay's writings have 
not been among the first books read, who has not 
been made to feel that all the great poetry, and 
fiction, and history to which he alludes so freely 
must be well worth careful study? What matter 
if in after-years we discover that Macaulay was 
unjust to Bacon the man, and was entirely ignorant 
of Bacon the philosopher; or understand clearly 
what he meant by saying that such critiques as 
Lessing's " Laocoon " " filled him with wonder and 

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despair "? If we have been encouraged by him to 
desire a wider knowledge, if we have learnt from 
him to admire so many great writers, so many 
famous statesmen, we may surely forgive him 
much, if indeed there be anything to forgive. 

Earl Stanhope, who did most of his historical 1805-1875 
work when, as an expectant peer, he was known as 
Lord Mahon, was a great friend of Macaulay's. In 
1870 he published a "History of the Reign of 
Queen Anne," which began at the year 1701, 
and thus served as a connecting link between 
Macaulay's history and his own larger work — the 
" History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht 
down to the Peace of Versailles (17 13-1783)." 
The continuation of Earl Stanhope's narrative 
may be found either in Mr. Lecky's " Eighteenth 
Century," or in William Nathaniel Massey's " His- i8og-i88i 
tory of England under George III." Mr. Massey 
brings us down to the Peace of Amiens in 1801, 
from which date Harriet Martineau leads us to 1846 
in a work (" History of the Peace ") which is quite 
unworthy of her abilities. The reign of Victoria 
has been written by many hands, not the least 
successful being the "History of England, 1830- 
1873," of the Rev. "William Nassau Molesworth 1816-1890 
of Rochdale, the author also of a " History of the 
Church of England." Equally popular is the 
"History of Our Own Time, 1830-189 7," of Justin 
MacCarthy, who has also written a "History of 1830- 

95 



Sixty Years of 

the Four Georges," and many popular novels. 
Nor must we forget the brilliant literary effort 

1811-1891 of Alexander William Kinglake, who, in his 
" History of the War in the Crimea," has made 
a younger generation familiar with a struggle in 
which their fathers took so brave a part. Mr. 
Kinglake was for some years the Liberal member 
for Bridgewater. His first literary effort, " Eothen," 
a volume of travels, is scarcely less popular than his 
history. By far the most important work, however, 
on English history, in a period subsequent to that 
dealt with by Macaulay, is Lecky's " History of 
England in the Eighteenth Century," a work of 
great thoroughness and thoughtfulness, the eighth 
and concluding volume of which was published in 

1838- 1890. William Edward Hartpole Lecky, who was 
educated at Trinity College, Dublin, which he now 
represents in Parliament, is one of the most bril- 
liant and suggestive writers of our age. His " Rise 
and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism," and 
" European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne," 
as well as the " History of the Eighteenth Century," 
are justly popular. 

It is impossible to enumerate all the important 
contributions to historical study of the past few 
years, but the "History of Scotland, from the 
Invasion of Agricola to the Revolution of 1688," 

1809- 1881 by John Hill Burton, and the " Life and Reign of 
Richard III.," by James Gairdner must not be 

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Victorian Literature 

forgotten, nor the "History of the War in the 
Peninsula," by Sir Charles Napier (i 786-1860). 
Many writers have embodied the main con- 
clusions of the historians we have named, in brief, 
but useful, histories for the use of the more 
advanced schools. The more successful of these 
are the Rev. James Franck Bright and the late 
John Richard Green. James Franck Bright is 1832- 
master of University College, Oxford, and his 
" English History for the use of Public Schools " 
is a work so lucidly and carefully written, that it is 
entitled to be lifted out of the category of mere 
text- books, and to take rank as good literature. 
Still more is this true of Green's " Short History 
of the English People." John Richard Green 1837-1883 
was born at Oxford, and educated at Magdalen 
College School and at Jesus College. For 
some time he was vicar of St. Philip's, Stepney. 
His "Short History," published in 1874, was 
speedily adopted in schools, and had an enormous 
sale among general readers. It was immediately 
recognised that a brilliant writer had appeared, 
one who had assimilated all that was worthy in 
the work of laborious contemporary historians, 
had himself made much study of original docu- 
ments, and had welded all together by the power 
of real genius. A critic here and there devoted 
himself to discovering the errors, mainly of dates, 
which, owing to the illness of the author, disfigured 
G 97 



J 



Sixty Years of 

the first edition. But the popular instinct which 
declared this to be a great work, was a sound one. 
In the main its conclusions are just. There is not 
a line of cheap sentiment or rhetorical clap-trap 
in the book. Mr. Green soon afterwards enlarged 
his work, and published it in four handsome 
volumes, which he dedicated to his friends — " My 
Masters in the Study of English History," — Bishop 
Stubbs and Professor Freeman. Later on appeared 
"The Making of England," and, after his decease, 
another volume, " The Conquest of England," 
written on his deathbed, was published by his 
widow, Alice Stopford Green, who has written 
"Town Life in the Fifteenth Century." Sir Archi- 
bald Geikie, the geologist, once rendered a tribute 
to Green for endeavouring to bring geological 
science to the aid of historical research; but on 
the question of the Teutonic element in our nation, 
it has been urged that Green follows his friends, 
Stubbs and Freeman, all too readily, and ignores 
the evidence from anthropology in favour of the 
very great prevalence of Celtic blood in the 
English-speaking race. 

I regret that my space will not permit me to 
write at length of the men who have studied so 
thoroughly sciences which have so much bearing 
upon history, and who have written delightful 
books upon them. I must be content merely to 
mention the names of William Boyd Dawkins, who 

9 8 



Victorian Literature 

has written " Cave-hunting " and " Early Man in 
Britain ; " and Sir John Lubbock, banker and 
member of Parliament, who has written " Pre- 
historic Times" and "The Origin of Civilization 
and the Primitive Condition of Man," also 
various books on natural science, and some 
very inadequate literary essays. Nor must I for- 
get Edward Burnett Tylor's " Primitive Culture " 
and "Anthropology," Grant Allen's "Anglo-Saxon 
Britain," and Edward Clodd's "Childhood of the 
World," "Childhood of Religion," and "Pioneers 
of Evolution." From such works as these it is 
but a very short step to the writings of Max 
Miiller. Friedrich Max Miiller, son of the 1823- 
German poet, Wilhelm Miiller, was educated at 
the University of Leipzig, and made a special 
study of philosophy in Germany for many years 
before he came to the land of his adoption, in 
1846. Appointed an Oxford professor, first of 
modern languages and later of comparative philo- 
logy, a science which he may almost be said to 
have created, he has become an Englishman both 
in speech and in writing. Max Miiller's most 
popular works are his interesting " Lectures on the 
Science of Language," and his " Chips from a 
German Workshop," in which he deals not only 
with the common origin of the world's leading 
languages, but in a skilful and almost startling 
manner reconstructs, by the aid of language alone, 

99 



Sixty Years of 

the conditions out of which have risen the various 
religious and social systems of the early nations. 
The writers who have most prominently followed 
in Max Mliller's footsteps, as elucidators of 
primitive religious belief, are Professor Sayce and 
the Rev. Sir George Cox. Archibald Henry 

1846- Sayce, who succeeded Max Miiller in the chair 
of comparative philology at Oxford, has written 
numerous books and treatises dealing with the 
Chaldean and other ancient nations, and has also 
published an annotated edition of Herodotus, 
noticeable chiefly for its unfavourable verdict on 

1827- the " Father of History." Sir George Cox, whose 
" Mythology of the Aryan Nations" has pro- 
voked much adverse criticism from its extreme 
application of the "Solar" theory to the inter- 
pretation of myth, epic, and romance, has also 
written an interesting "History of Greece" in 
two volumes. 

The " History of Greece " which may be con- 
sidered one of the most satisfactory achievements 
of the Victorian Era, is that by Grote, published in 

1794-1871 twelve volumes. George Grote was born at Clay 
Hill, near Beckenham, and was educated at the 
Charterhouse School. He early went into the 
banking-house in Threadneedle Street, of which 
his father was one of the partners, but found time 
to devote himself to philosophy and history, and 
to write for the Westminster Review, the organ of 

IOO 



Victorian Literature 

philosophical Radicalism. It was as a representa- 
tive of this phase of thought that he was returned 
as member of Parliament for the city of London 
in 1833. He sat in the House as one of a small 
body of philosophical Radicals until 1841, bring- 
ing forward annually a resolution in favour of the 
ballot. He retired from Parliamentary life to 
devote himself more energetically to his " History 
of Greece," the first two volumes of which ap- 
peared in 1846 ; the twelfth, and last, which takes 
us to the death of Alexander the Great, was pub- 
lished in 1856. During the same years, but un- 
known to Grote, Connop Thirlwall, Bishop of St. 1797-1875 
David's, a former schoolfellow of his, was engaged 
upon the same task. Each acknowledged the 
superiority of his rival's work, and Grote said that 
he should never have written his had Thirlwall's 
book appeared a few years earlier ; but there can 
be little hesitation in assigning the higher place to 
Grote. Of Thirlwall it may be said, however, that 
but for Grote his history would have taken high 
rank, and would have been a welcome relief from 
the foolish but once popular work of William 
Mitford. Thirlwall is also interesting for having 
translated, in 1825, Schleiermacher's "Essay on 
St. Luke," and thus first introduced German theo- 
logy into England. Grote's history is a book of 
high educational value. In it we have all that 
is best in Herodotus, Thucydides, and the other 

IOI 



Sixty Years of 

ancient historians, added to the sound and weighty 
judgment of a clear-sighted modern critic, excep- 
tionally free from prejudice. It was Grote's great 
destiny to free the English mind from the errone- 
ous impressions which had so long prevailed as to 
the real character of the Athenian democracy, and 
we cannot find elsewhere a truer or juster picture 
of Athens at the height of her power. A great 
work on Greek history in later aspects than those 
of Grote and Thirlwall is " A History of Greece, 
from its Conquest by the Romans to the Present 

1799-1875 Time," by George Finlay. Finlay fought in the 
Greek War of Independence, and lived for the 
greater part of his life in Athens. 

A number of clergymen besides Dr. Thirlwall 
have shown an able grasp of classical history. 
Dr. Arnold wrote a " History of Rome," based on 
Niebuhr, which, although interesting, is scarcely 

1808-1893 worthy of so great a man. Charles Merivale, Dean 
of Ely, wrote an admirable summary of Roman 
history from the foundation of the city in B.C. 753 
to the fall of Augustulus in a.d. 476 ; but his great 
work is the " History of the Romans under the 
Empire," which is indispensable for a thorough 

1791-1868 appreciation of Gibbon. Henry Hart Milman, 
Dean of St. Paul's, did good service to historical 
scholarship by his edition of Gibbon's pre-eminent 
work, and by his own " History of the Jews," 
" History of Christianity under the Empire," and 

I02 



Victorian Literature 

"Latin Christianity." The nine volumes of this 
last were called by Dean Stanley " a complete epic 
and philosophy of mediaeval Christianity." Milman 
is said to have described himself as " the last 
learned man in the Church," but in the presence of 
so eminent a scholar as Mandell Creighton, Bishop 1843- 
of London, the statement is meaningless. Dr. 
Creighton's great work, " A History of the Papacy 
from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome," is 
of the highest value in the consecutive study of 
European history ; and so also is the work of 
another clergyman, George William Kitchin, Dean 1827- 
of Durham, whose " History of France previous to 
the Revolution " is very attractively written. 

A writer who generalises freely from the facts 
of history, and whose generalisations were once 
very popular, and, according to Sir Mackenzie 
Wallace, are still widely read in Russia, was Henry 
Thomas Buckle, who published in 1857 the first 1821 -1862 
volume of the " History of Civilisation in England ; " 
a second volume appeared in 1861, but the author 
died before he had completed his intended under- 
taking. Buckle unduly emphasises the influence of 
national and moral laws upon the progress of civil- 
isation, minimises the influence of individuals, and 
overlooks the momentous action of heredity. A 
writer of equal importance with Buckle was John 
Addington Symonds, whose " Renaissance in 1840-1893 
Italy " is a work of great literary merit, and whose 

103 



Sixty Years of 

translation of Cellini's " Autobiography " has 
superseded Roscoe's. 

Passing from historic Italy to Germany we may 
note that " The Holy Roman Empire " of James 

1838- Bryce created quite a furore as a prize essay at 
Oxford, and, in its enlarged shape, forms the only 
English sketch of German history of great literary 
merit. Mr. Bryce was, some years ago, announced 
to write a " History of Germany " of more formidable 
dimensions, but the glamour of parliamentary life 
and a seat in the Cabinet have robbed us of a 
capable historian. Although we are without a 
satisfactory German history we possess two very 
solid contributions to such a work. With one 
of these, Carlyle's "Frederick II.," I shall deal 

1834-1895 later ; the other is Sir John Robert Seeley's " Life 
and Times of Stein ; or, Germany and Prussia in 
the Napoleonic Age." When this work appeared 
it was received with high commendation in Ger- 
many, but in England with the qualification that it 
had none of the literary charm of the author's 
earlier efforts. To such criticism Professor Seeley 
■ — he received the professorship of modern history 
at Cambridge on Kingsley's resignation in 1869 — 
replied in a series of papers entitled " History and 
Politics," wherein he practically contended that it 
was the business of historians to be dull, and that 
brilliant history- writing was, as a matter of fact, 
little other than fiction. Still, in his lectures on 

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"The Expansion of England" (1883) and "A 
Short History of Napoleon " (1886) he succeeded 
in making himself entirely interesting. 

The books which gave Sir John Seeley his 
greatest fame — he received a knighthood in 1893 — 
were not, however, historical, but, in a sense, theo- 
logical • and with him we find ourselves in the 
midst of the great religious controversies of the 
reign. " Ecce Homo ; a Survey of the Life and 
Work of Jesus Christ," was published anonymously 
in 1865. While censured on many sides on 
account of its alleged heterodoxy, it drew from 
opponents unstinted admiration on account of its 
perfect literary workmanship. One of these 
opponents was Mr. Gladstone, who ventured the 
prophecy that the author would at a later period 
write something from a more orthodox standpoint. 
The prediction was not verified, for in 1882 a 
further work, "Natural Religion," by the Author 
of " Ecce Homo," showed still less sympathy with 
the supernatural side of religion. 

Mr. Gladstone, who flung himself into this as into 
so many other controversies, has a fame quite apart 
from any literary achievement. But whatever 
posterity may say of his influence on the destinies 
of the nation which he has helped for so many 
years to rule, it is certain that his powers as an 
author would have made the reputation of a man 
of less versatility. 

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Sixty Years of 

1809- William Ewart Gladstone, the son of a Lanca- 

shire merchant, was born at Liverpool. Into 
his political career it is not my province to 
enter. His first literary work, " The State in its 
Relations with the Church," was made famous 
through a review by Macaulay. Later in life he 
indulged in theological controversy, publishing 
an " Essay on Ritualism " and " The Vatican 
Decrees." Mr. Gladstone's chief work is, however, 
his "Studies in Homer," in which he argues for 
the unity of the poem, for the foundation in fact 
of its main incidents, and for the definite personal- 
ity of the author. His contributions to periodical 
literature have been innumerable, and only a few 
— and those non-controversial and non-classical — 
have been republished in his five volumes of 
" Gleanings." Mr. Gladstone's chief opponent in 
theological controversy, Cardinal Newman, has 
profoundly influenced his religious views. "In 
my opinion," wrote Mr. Gladstone many years after 
Newman had become a Roman Catholic, " his 
secession from the Church of England has never 
yet been estimated among us at anything like the 
full amount of its calamitous importance. It has 
been said that the world does not know its greatest 
men ; neither, I will add, is it aware of the power 
and weight carried by the words and the acts of 
those among its greatest men whom it does know. 
The ecclesiastical historian will perhaps hereafter 

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Victorian Literature 

judge that this secession was a much greater event 
even than the partial secession of John Wesley, the 
only case of personal loss suffered by the Church 
of England since the Reformation which can be at 
all compared with it in magnitude." 

John Henry Newman was born in London, and 1 801-1890 
educated at a private school at Ealing and at 
Trinity College, Oxford. Inclined at first to the 
liberal Christianity which men like Whately and 
Milman were furthering among churchmen, he 
was, he says, "rudely awakened by two great 
blows — illness and bereavement ; " and he devoted 
himself to a life-long opposition to what he has 
called " the great apostasy — liberalism in religion." 
"My battle," he writes, " was with liberalism; by 
liberalism I mean the anti-dogmatic principle and 
its developments." From 1828 to 1843 ne ne ^ 
the incumbency of St. Mary's Church, Oxford, and 
the influence which he then exerted was of the 
deepest moment for the future of religious life in 
England. " Who," says Matthew Arnold, himself, 
like his father before him, one of the leaders 
of the movement which Newman has hated 
so intensely, " who could resist the charm of that 
spiritual apparition, gliding in the dim afternoon 
light through the aisles of St. Mary's, rising into 
the pulpit, and then, in the most entrancing of 
voices, breaking the silence with words and 
thoughts which were a religious music — subtle, 
107 



Sixty Years of 

sweet, mournful? I seem to hear him still, say- 
ing : ' After the fever of life, after wearinesses 
and sicknesses, fightings and despondings, languor 
and fretfulness, struggling and succeeding; after 
all the changes and chances of this troubled, un- 
healthy state, — at length comes death, at length 
the white throne of God, at length the beatific 
vision.' " During these years at St. Mary's what is 
called the Tractarian movement sprang to life — a 
movement, as we have said, against Broad-Church- 
ism. It was at the beginning of the movement, on 
his way home from Sicily in 1833, whilst pondering 
over the difficulties of the task he had undertaken, 
that Newman wrote the hymn " Lead, kindly Light," 
which is now as popular in the most advanced and 
liberalised churches as it can be in those nearest 
to its author's religious standpoint. The " Tracts 
for the Times," whence Tractarians derived their 
name, were written by Newman, Hurrell, Froude, 
Pusey, and others. Bishop Bloomfield said that 
the whole movement was nothing but Newmania. 
The writers argued, now in short papers, now in 
elaborate treatises, for the Divine mission of the 
Anglican Church. Not till " Tract XC." was reached 
did the alarm of the Protestant party manifest 
itself in any practical form. In that Tract 
Newman declared that subscription to the 
Thirty-nine Articles was not inconsistent with 
the acceptance of Roman Catholic teaching on 

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purgatory, on the invocation of saints, and on the 
mass. The Hebdomadal Council of the University 
condemned the Tract. Two years later Newman 
resigned his position at St. Mary's, and in 1845 
formally joined the Church of Rome. According to 
Disraeli, Anglicanism " reeled under the shock," and 
Dean Stanley remarked to a friend that the fortunes 
of the English Church might have been very differ- 
ent " had Newman been able to read German." x 

In 1848 he was appointed head of the Birming- 
ham Oratory, and there he resided — with one short 
break as rector of the Roman Catholic University 
at Dublin — for nearly forty years. In 1 879 he was 
created a cardinal, and his visit to Rome and in- 
stallation as a Prince of the Sacred College excited 
much attention in England. Although by tempera- 
ment and inclination one of the least combative 
and most retiring of men, Cardinal Newman found 
himself again and again in the thick of the argu- 
mentative fray. At one time he was involved in 
a libel action by an ex-priest and ultra- Protestant 
lecturer named Father Achilli, and this cost New- 
man and his friends twelve thousand pounds ; at 
another time he was arguing with the foremost 
English statesman, Mr. Gladstone, as to the prob- 
able loyalty of English Roman Catholics if the 
Papacy and the English Government were brought 
into collision. In one great controversy of his life 
1 " Memoirs of Mark Pattison." 
IO9 



Sixty Years of 

he was generally admitted to have achieved a suc- 
cess, and this success is associated with an endur- 
ing literary work, the autobiography which he calls 
his " Apologia pro Vita Sua." Reviewing Froude's 
"History of England" in Macmillan 's Magazine 
(January 1864), Charles Kingsley charged New- 
man with being careless about truth, and with 
teaching that cunning and not truth-seeking was the 
acceptable method of the Roman Catholic clergy. 
Brought to bay by Newman, Kingsley contra- 
dicted himself in an amazing fashion, and even 
the most enthusiastic Protestants were compelled 
to admit that the clever novelist was no match for 
the trained dialectician. Mrs. Kingsley, in her 
charming life of her husband, practically admits that 
he was worsted in the conflict, and J. A. Froude, 
his brother-in-law, wrote : " Kingsley entirely 
misunderstood Newman's character. Newman's 
whole life had been a struggle for truth. He had 
neglected his own interests ; he had never thought 
of them at all. He had brought to bear a most 
powerful and subtle intellect to support the con- 
victions of a conscience which was superstitiously 
sensitive. His single object had been to discover 
what were the real relations between man and his 
Maker, and to shape his own conduct by the con- 
clusions at which he arrived. To represent such 
a person as careless of truth was neither generous 
nor even reasonable." 

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Victorian Literature 

The final outcome of the controversy was the 
publication of the " Apologia," a work which, alike 
in beauty of style and devotion of spirit, must be 
assigned a very high place in religious literature. 
My space is too limited to pass in review, or even 
to name, the thirty-six volumes which contain the 
writings of this eloquent preacher and teacher. 
His " Dream of Gerontius " and " Verses on 
Various Occasions" show his high qualities as 
a poet; his "Apologia," " Callista," and "Essay 
in aid of the Grammar of Assent," display his 
genius as a prose stylist. In " Callista : a Sketch 
of the Third Century," he pictures a beautiful 
Greek girl, who becomes a convert to Christianity 
after a severe struggle between human affection 
and religious faith. The " Grammar of Assent " 
is an apology for Christianity, far above the 
narrow controversies in which the author took so 
distinguished a part. 

The question whether Cardinal Newman or 
Carlyle has been the most influential personality 
in Victorian literature will be largely decided by 
the temperament of the critic. Mr. Swinburne, 
looking at them both from a standpoint of anta- 
gonism to the priestly proclivities of the one 
and to the tyrannical proclivities of the other, 
apostrophised them jointly in the well-known 
lines : — 

III 



Sixty Years of 

" With all our hearts we praise you whom ye hate, 
High souls that hate us ; for our hopes are higher, 
And higher than yours the goal of our desire, 
Though high your ends be as your hearts are great." 

Newman, indeed, left England more dominated 
by ritual than in any other period of its history, 
the Roman Church more powerful than ever be- 
fore, the new High Church party in the Establish- 
ment a great institution, with the rival Prime 
Ministers, Mr. Gladstone and Lord Salisbury, 
among its supporters, and a taste for ritual con- 
spicuous in the chapels of the Nonconformists. 
And yet with all this Carlyle was the more 
dominant personality. 
1 795-1 88 1 Thomas Carlyle was born at Ecclefechan, in 
Dumfriesshire, on the 4th of December, 1795. 
His father was a stonemason, at whose death 
Carlyle thus tenderly wrote in his Diary : — "I 
owe him much more than existence. I owe him 
a noble inspiring example. It was he exclusively 
that determined on educating me ; that from his 
small hard-earned funds sent me to school and 
college, and made me whatever I am and may 
become. Let me not mourn for my father, let me 
do worthily of him. So shall he still live, even 
here in me, and his worth plant itself honourably 
forth into new generations." From Annan Gram- 
mar School the young Carlyle went to Edinburgh 
University, where he became a voracious reader, 

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although never a great classical scholar. He then 
took the post of mathematical tutor at Annan 
school, and afterwards at Kirkcaldy, where he 
was friendly with Edward Irving, afterwards the 
famous preacher. Disgusted with this life he flung 
up his appointment, and determined to study for 
the law. For some time he eked out a scanty 
subsistence in Edinburgh by writing biographies 
for Brewster's Encyclopedia. It was at this period 
that he obtained some measure of mental and 
moral stimulus from his German studies. Goethe 
opened a new world to him. He began to 
study German in 1819, induced thereto by 
Madame de StaeTs interesting account of the 
German poets and philosophers. Goethe was 
seventy- five years old when in 1824 he received 
from Carlyle an English translation of " Wilhelm 
Meister," with a letter, saying, " Four years ago, 
when I read your < Faust ' among the mountains 
of my native Scotland, I could not but fancy I 
might one day see you, and pour out before you, 
as before a father, the woes and wanderings of a 
heart whose mysteries you seemed so thoroughly 
to comprehend, and could so beautifully represent." 
Two years later Carlyle sent Goethe his " Life of 
Schiller," and once again he expressed his intense 
devotion to one " whose voice came to me from 
afar, with counsel and help, in my utmost need." 
" For if," he continues, " I have been delivered 

H 113 



Sixty Years of 

from darkness into any measure of light, if I know 
aught of myself and my destination, it is to the 
study of your writings more than to any other 
circumstance that I owe this ; it is you more than 
any other man that I should always thank and 
reverence with the feeling of a disciple to his 
Master, nay, of a son to his spiritual Father." In 
the meantime Carlyle had married Jane Welsh, 
the daughter of a doctor in Haddington, and had 
settled at the lonely farm-house of Craigenputtock, 
in Dumfriesshire. There he was visited by Emer- 
son, and there he remained for six years, before 
removing to London. Not only had Carlyle then 
translated " Wilhelm Meister " and written the " Life 
of Schiller," but he had made numerous translations 
from Musseus, Tieck, and Richter, and had pub- 
lished essays on these and other German authors. 
Jean Paul Richter had a peculiar attraction for 
him, and there can be no doubt that Carlyle owed 
his extraordinary style, in some degree, to his study 
of the German humorist. 

The forty-seven years of Carlyle's London life 
(1834-1881) were years of incessant literary activity. 
The thirty volumes which came from his pen dur- 
ing that time not only secured for him a permanent 
place amongst the historians, biographers, and 
essayists of our literature, but they kindled for him 
a glow of intense personal enthusiasm amongst the 
best of his contemporaries, such as, perhaps, no 

II 4 



Victorian Literature 

other English author has enjoyed. At his death 
on the 5 th of February, 1881, the world knew 
Carlyle, apart from his books, as a man of simple 
tastes, content, in spite of the wealth which literary 
success had brought, to reside amidst unostenta- 
tious surroundings, ever ready to help the dis- 
tressed and needy, refusing a title and the like 
official recognitions, and carrying out to the letter 
the reverence, earnestness, and unobtrusive manli- 
ness which he had inculcated in his writings ; de- 
votedly attached to his wife, whom he described on 
her tombstone as having " unweariedly forwarded 
him as none else could, in all of good that he did 
or attempted ; " and, in short, worthy of the address 
presented to him on his eightieth birthday, by nearly 
all the men of literary and scientific eminence in 
England, including, amongst others, Lord Tenny- 
son and George Eliot, Robert Browning and Pro- 
fessor Huxley. " A whole generation has elapsed," 
they said, " since you described for us the hero as 
a man of letters. We congratulate you and our- 
selves on the spacious fulness of years which has 
enabled you to sustain this rare dignity amongst 
mankind in all its possible splendour and com- 
pleteness." The publication of Mr. Froude's nine 
volumes of memorials caused a considerable 
revulsion of feeling. The Carlyle of these 
"Letters" and "Reminiscences" appeared to be 
over-censorious in his estimate of his contem- 

"5 



Sixty Years of 

poraries, not too considerate in his relations with 
his wife, and, however admirable he might find 
contentment in Richter or Heine, not content 
without much murmuring to accept a life of re- 
stricted means. 

To give too much emphasis to this view of 
Carlyle's character is to ignore certain peculiarities 
of Mr. Froude's biographical and historical style, to 
which reference has already been made. It will 
suffice to point out here that there are other sources 
of information about Carlyle than the books of his 
accredited biographer. Sir Henry Taylor, Mrs. 
Oliphant, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton, Mrs. Gilchrist, 
and other friends of Carlyle's later life have 
published much additional matter, and have 
shown, as it were, the other side of the shield. 
To Sir Henry Taylor, who knew him well, he 
seemed "the most faithful and true-hearted of 
men," and from many sources we learn that Mr. 
Froude's picture is not that of the true Carlyle; 
that he was not a selfish husband, that his married 
life was not unhappy, that he was not altogether 
dumb to the heroes living, whilst eloquent over 
heroes dead, and that, in spite of many faults, he 
was a noble high-minded man, a "kingly soul," as 
Longfellow called him. Writing in his Diary during 
his second visit to England in 1847, Emerson 
says : — " Carlyle and his wife live on beautiful 
terms. Their ways are very engaging, and in her 

Il6 



Victorian Literature 

bookcase all his books are inscribed to her as they 
came from year to year, each with some significant 
lines." 

The letters which Carlyle wrote to his wife at 
the time she lost her mother are most touchingly 
affectionate. This is what she wrote to a friend at 
that time : — "In great matters he is always kind 
and considerate, but these little attentions which 
we women attach so much importance to, he was 
never in the habit of rendering to anyone. And, 
now, the desire to replace the irreplaceable makes 
him as good in little things as he used to be in 
great." And to Carlyle himself she writes : — 
" God keep you, my dear husband, and bring you 
safe back to me. The house looks very desolate 
without you, and my mind feels empty too. I 
expect, with impatience, the letter that is to fix 
your return." 

On another occasion, writing to her husband's 
mother, she says : — " You have others behind and 
I have only him — only him in the whole wide 
world to love me and take care of me — poor little 
wretch that I am. Not but that numbers of people 
love me, after their fashion, far more than I de- 
serve, but then his fashion is so different from 
theirs, and seems alone to suit the crotchety 
creature that I am." And then her pride in her 
husband is well exemplified by an experience re- 
lated in a letter to him, which shows also how 

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Sixty Years of 

wide and deep is that mysterious impersonal in- 
fluence of great authors on men who are totally 
unknown to them : — " A man of the people 
mounted the platform and spoke; a youngish, 
intelligent-looking man, who alone, of all the 
speakers, seemed to understand the question, and 
to have feelings as well as notions about it. He 
spoke with a heart- eloquence that left me warm. 
I never was more affected by public speaking. . . . 
A sudden thought struck me : this man would like 
to know you. I would give him my address in 
London. I borrowed a piece of paper and handed 
him my address. When he looked at it he started 
as if I had sent a bullet into him, caught my hand, 
and said, ' Oh, it is your husband ! Mr. Carlyle 
has been my teacher and master ! I have owed 
everything to him for years and years ! ' I felt it a 
credit to you really to have had a hand in turning 
out this man, was prouder of that heart-tribute to 
your genius than any amount of reviewers' praises 
or aristocratic invitations to dinner." 

It is because the spirit which breathes in the 
words of this young workman has been the guiding 
moral force of numbers of men and women in all 
stations of life, during the last sixty years, that I 
have devoted so much space to Carlyle. It is of 
the greatest importance to literature that the man 
whose eloquent preaching of justice, sincerity, and 
reverence has turned the hearts of thousands of 

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his fellowmen towards nobility and simplicity of 
life, should not himself have been out of harmony 
with all that he taught. "The world," says 
Thackeray's gifted daughter, "has pointed its 
moral finger of late at the old man in his great 
old age, accusing himself in the face of all, and 
confessing the overpowering irritations which the 
suffering of a lifetime had laid upon him and upon 
her he loved. That old caustic man of deepest 
feeling, with an ill-temper and a tender heart, and 
a racking imagination, speaking from the grave, 
and bearing unto it that cross of passionate remorse 
which few among us dare to face, seems to some of 
us now a figure nobler and truer, a teacher greater 
far than in the days when all his pain and love and 
remorse were still hidden from us all." 1 

Of the " Reminiscences " which excited so much 
criticism on account of their references to persons 
still living, Carlyle wrote on the last page : — "I 
still mainly mean to burn this book before my own 
departure, but feel that I shall always have a kind 
of grudge to do it, and an indolent excuse. ' Not 
yet ; wait, any day that can be done ! ' and that it 
is possible the thing may be left behind me, legible 
to interested survivors — friends only, I will hope, 
and with worthy curiosity, not ^^worthy ! In which 
event, I solemnly forbid them, each and all, to 
publish this bit of writing as it stands here, and 

1 Mrs. Thackeray-Ritchie, Harper's Magazine (1883). 

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Sixty Years of 

warn them that without fit editing no part of it 
should be printed (nor so far as I can order shall 
ever be), and that the ' fit editing' of perhaps 
nine-tenths of it will, after I am gone, have become 
impossible." x 

The only editing which Mr. Froude deemed " fit " 
was the omission of this paragraph from his edition 
of the work. And yet to read, with the " worthy 
curiosity " of which he speaks, of his love for 
father and wife, and of his kindly solicitude for 
brothers and sisters, whom he constantly assisted, 
is to make him nearer and dearer to those who 
care to remember that he was after all but human. 
Carlyle spoke with too little kindness, it must be 
owned, of Wordsworth, and Coleridge, and Lamb, 
because he saw only the palpable weaknesses of 
their characters, and was blinded by forbidding 
externals to the sterling worth of these great 
men ; but he loved Emerson, and Tennyson, and 
Ruskin, and he profoundly revered Goethe, who, 
after all, was the only one of his contemporaries 
who could take rank anywhere near him. 2 Carlyle 
recognised that Goethe was incomparably his 

1 " Reminiscences," by Thomas Carlyle. 2nd Edition. 
Edited by C. 3. Norton (1887). 

2 When George Eliot read Carlyle's eulogy on Emerson 
in introducing his essays to the British public, she wrote : — 
" I have shed many tears over it : this is a world worth abid- 
ing in while one man can thus venerate and love another." — 
Cross's <f Life of George Eliot." 

I20 



Victorian Literature 

superior in every way; that he was, as Matthew 
Arnold calls him, " the greatest poet of the present 
age, and the greatest critic of all ages," the one 
man of transcendent genius whom Europe has 
produced since Dante and Shakspere. To have 
first led England to appreciate Goethe is not the 
least of Carlyle's many services to his country. To 
have acted as an inspiring and helpful prophet is 
perhaps his greatest. " Sartor Resartus " first ap- 
peared in Frasefs Magazine for 1833, where it 
met with but scanty recognition, and, indeed, half- 
ruined the editor, whose subscribers anxiously 
asked when the " tailor sketches " were coming to 
an end. It is surely something more than a pass- 
ing fashion in literature which leads us now to take 
up these well-worn pages with so much of tender- 
ness and sympathy. " There is in man," he says, 
" a Higher than Love of Happiness ; he can do 
without Happiness, and instead thereof find 
Blessedness ! Was it not to preach forth this 
same Higher that sages and martyrs, the Poet and 
the Priest, in all times, have spoken and suffered ; 
bearing testimony, through life and through death, 
of the Godlike that is in Man, and how, in the 
Godlike only, has he Strength and Freedom?" 
How can it be said that Carlyle did not love 
humanity when we read the lines in which he 
expresses reverence for the " toilworn Craftsman 
that, with earth-made Implement, laboriously con- 

121 



Sixty Years of 

quers the Earth and makes her man's? " "Vener- 
able to me," he continues, " is the hard Hand ; 
crooked, coarse; wherein notwithstanding lies a 
cunning virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the Sceptre 
of this Planet. Venerable, too, is the rugged face, 
all weather-tanned, besoiled, with its rude intelli- 
gence ; for it is the face of a Man living manlike. 
O, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and 
even because we must pity as well as love thee ! 
Hardly entreated Brother ! For us was thy back 
so bent, for us were thy straight limbs and fingers 
so deformed ; thou wert our Conscript on whom 
the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so 
marred." 

It is impossible to exaggerate the effect upon 
the younger minds of his age of Carlyle's stirring 
words, inciting to worthy and ever worthier effort : 
— " Do the duty which lies nearest to thee, which 
thou knowest to be a duty. In all situations out 
of the pit of Tophet, wherein a living man has 
stood, there is actually a prize of quite infinite 
value placed within his reach, namely a duty for 
him to do; this highest of Gospels forms the 
basis and worth of all other gospels whatever." 
" Brother," he says elsewhere, " thou hast possi- 
bility in thee for much, the possibility of writing 
on the eternal skies the record of a heroic life. Is 
not every man, God be thanked, a potential hero? 
The measure of a nation's greatness, of its worth 

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Victorian Literature 

under the sky to God and to man, is not the 
quantity of bullion it has realised, but the quantity 
of heroisms it has achieved, of noble pieties and 
valiant wisdoms that were in it, that still are 
in it." 

Little less valuable than "Sartor Resartus" is 
"Past and Present," which was published in 
1843. The reverence and delicacy with which it 
touches the monasticism of a bygone age are as 
remarkable as the prophetic vision with which it 
deals with the social problems of our latter-day 
life. State-aided emigration, co-operation and 
national education, are some of the many changes 
advocated here and elsewhere. Not till the 
"Latter-day Pamphlets" (1850) did Carlyle be- 
come an eloquent advocate of " force " as a guide 
in politics, thereby alienating John Stuart Mill 
and many of his old friends. His language 
then seemed to degenerate into mere shrieking 
and scolding. The world must be governed, he 
declared, by men of heroic mould, who know what 
is good for the inferior natures around them. Let 
such inferior natures, if need be, be scourged into 
silence. Parliaments he spoke of contemptuously 
as "talking shops," and his sympathies went out 
heartily to Governor Eyre at the time of the 
Jamaica riots, and to the Southern States at the 
time of the American Civil War. An admiration 
for "heaven-sent heroes" had always been strong 
123 



Sixty Years of 

in Carlyle, although it certainly had not its after 
meaning when he wrote in early life, " Not brute 
force, but only persuasion and faith are the kings 
of this world." In " Heroes and Hero-worship," a 
course of lectures delivered in 1 840, he had waxed 
eloquent over Mahomet, Luther, and Napoleon, 
and three years earlier, in 1837, he had published 
in his " French Revolution " a brilliant eulogy 
of Mirabeau. His vindication of Cromwell was 
brought about perhaps mainly by his appreciation 
of the Protector's high-handed resoluteness, and 
his "Life of Frederick II. of Prussia" was the 
apology for a man who was the very embodiment 
of despotic ideals. 

But quite apart from Carlyle's worth as a moral 
teacher or as a controversialist, his place in litera- 
ture is very high. His short biography of Schiller 
was an epoch-making book, because of the influ- 
ence it has exercised upon the study of German 
literature : but it bears little evidence of the genius 
of its author, and, in consequence of the abund- 
ance of Schiller correspondence subsequently 
brought to light, it has been superseded by the bio- 
graphies of Palleskie and Duntzer. Carlyle's " Life 
of John Sterling " is, however, a work of great power, 
a kind of prose " Lycidas," which, like that great 
elegy, has rescued from oblivion a man in whom 
the world would soon have ceased to be interested. 
Carlyle, again, was an essayist of striking individu- 

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Victorian Literature 

ality. Few literary sketches are more picturesque 
than his " Count Cagliostro " and " The Diamond 
Necklace," and the essays on Johnson and Burns 
are models of generous human insight. With 
literary insight, however, Carlyle was not too well 
endowed, at least, when purely imaginative litera- 
ture was concerned, and he once expressed the 
opinion that Shakspere had better have written in 
prose. " It is part of my creed," he wrote to 
Emerson, "that the only poetry is history could 
we tell it right." His method of telling it gives 
him a place by himself among historians, a place 
so singular that it is impossible to classify him. 
" Carlyle's ' French Revolution,' " said John Stuart 
Mill, " is one of those productions of genius which 
is above all rule, and is a law to itself." The 
deathbed of Louis XV., the taking of the Bastille, 
and the execution of Danton are never-to-be-for- 
gotten descriptions, and the poetical passage which 
follows the relation of the bloody horrors of 1789 
cannot be too often quoted : — " O evening sun of 
July, how, at this hour, thy beams fall slant on 
reapers amid peaceful woody fields ; on old women 
spinning in cottages ; on ships far out in the silent 
main; on Balls at the Orangerie of Versailles, 
where high-rouged Dames of the Palace are even 
now dancing with double- jacketed Hussar-Officers ; 
— and also on this roaring Hell-porch of a Hotel- 
de-Ville ! " 

125 



Sixty Years of 

The scientific history of the French Revolution 
has yet to be written; and even to appreciate 
Carlyle's prose epic adequately we should know 
something of Mignet, Thiers, Morse Stephens, and 
von Sybel, but neither the accumulation of fresh 
facts, nor a philosophical deduction from such 
facts, can impair the value of Carlyle's work. That, 
in spite of all his fire and passion, Carlyle could 
delineate character with most judicial fairness, may 
be demonstrated by turning to Mr. John Morley's 
essays on Robespierre and the other revolutionists, 
and observing how his calm and unprejudiced 
intellect has pronounced judgments in every way 
endorsing Carlyle's. 

Carlyle's " Cromwell " has less attraction for us 
to-day than the " French Revolution;" but the 
service to historical study was even greater. 
Opinions will always differ as to the wisdom of 
the Protector's policy and the righteousness of his 
deeds, but since the publication of these letters and 
speeches, " edited with the care of an antiquarian 
and the genius of a poet," 1 Cromwell's sincerity and 
genuine piety have been unimpugned. There are 
others beside Mr. Froude who esteem the " His- 
tory of Frederick II." Carlyle's greatest work. 
The humour of the book is wonderful, for Carlyle 
is the greatest humorist since Sterne, and no- 
where is this humour more conspicuous than in 
1 Green's " Short History of the English People." 
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Victorian Literature 

" Frederick." The splendid portraits of all the 
most important figures in the eighteenth century 
fix themselves indelibly in the memory, and it is 
even said that German soldiers study the art of 
war from the descriptions of Frederick's campaigns. 
Nevertheless, the book has much in it that is un- 
satisfying to Englishmen. Frederick and his father 
could not easily excite the hero-worshipping in- 
clinations of a free people, and even Carlyle became 
disillusioned as he proceeded with his task, and 
finally admitted that Frederick was not worth the 
trouble he had given to him. He commenced it 
as a " History of Frederick the Great," and con- 
cluded it as a " History of Frederick, called the 
Great." 

Carlyle is surely the greatest figure in our 
modern literature. He wrote no poetry worth 
consideration, it is true. His verse would long 
since have been forgotten had it not been for 
his effectiveness as a prose writer. But although 
we are accustomed to the claim for poetry that 
it ranks higher than prose, it must be conceded 
that in Victorian literature this is not the Case, 
and that Carlyle's enormous personality, his 
capacity for influencing others for good and ill 
have made him the greatest moral and intellectual 
force of his age. To him we owe the indiffer- 
ence to mere political shibboleths, the lull in 
127 



Sixty Years of 

party warfare, which is the note of our age. He 
gave no definite answer to any question, but he 
gave us the impetus which led others to seek 
for solutions. His literary influence on Froude 
and Mill, Mr. Ruskin and Mr. Lecky, and numbers 
of others was tremendous. The place which was 
occupied by Swift in the eighteenth century is held 
by Carlyle in the nineteenth, and though every 
line that he has written should cease to be read, 
he will still be remembered as the greatest of 
literary figures in an age of great men of letters. 



128 



CHAPTER IV 

The Critics 

HTHE plan of describing all the writers of a period 
who are not poets, novelists, and historians as 
critics is open to many objections, although I 
intend to adopt it. If Matthew Arnold's plea for 
poetry as a criticism of life holds good, it is 
precisely the poets, novelists, and historians who 
are the true critics. An alternative plan would 
have been to give a chapter to prose writers 
and another to the poets; and still another 
arrangement would have been to divide the subject, 
as De Quincey suggested, into the literature of 
power and the literature of imagination, the former 
including the philosophers and historians, the latter 
the poets, the novelists, and the more picturesque 
of the prose writers — Carlyle and Ruskin, for 
example. 

One unhesitatingly assigns to Mr. Ruskin the 
distinction of the critic whose work is most 
eloquent and impressive. John Ruskin was born 1819- 
in Hunter Street, Brunswick Square, London. 

1 129 



Sixty Years of 

He has told us in his autobiography, " Prseterita," 
of his early life under a tender mother's care, 
of his boyish affection for Byron and Scott, 
and of the youthful impulse to art study ex- 
cited by the present of Rogers's " Italy," with 
Turner's illustrations. In 1837 he was entered 
as a gentleman commoner at Christ Church, 
Oxford, gaining, two years later, the Newdigate 
prize for English poetry, his subject being " Salsette 
and Elephanta." In 1843 he produced the first 
volume of " Modern Painters : their Superiority in 
the Art of Landscape Painting to all the Ancient 
Masters. By a Graduate of Oxford." The work 
originated, he says, " in indignation at the shallow 
and false criticism of the periodicals of the day 
on the work of the great living artist to whom it 
principally refers." The artist in question was 
Joseph Mallord William Turner, upon whom 
Ruskin has pronounced somewhat contradictory 
judgments at different periods in his career. 
" Modern Painters " soon extended beyond the 
mere essay at first intended, and in its final form 
of five handsome volumes, it was not only a philo- 
sophical treatise on landscape painting, but an ex- 
haustive dissertation on many phases of life from 
one whom Mazzini declared to possess " the most 
analytic brain in Europe." 

Another important work, " The Seven Lamps of 
Architecture " (1849), * s a brilliant attempt at re- 
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Victorian Literature 

form in domestic and church architecture. The 
" lamps" represent the characteristics which good 
architecture should possess. The first is the Lamp 
of Sacrifice : " What of beauty and what of riches 
we may possess, let a portion be dedicated to God. 
It was in this spirit that our cathedrals were built." 
The second, the Lamp of Truth, is a plea for 
honesty in architecture, no imitation wood or 
marble, but solid wood and solid stone. " Exactly 
as a woman of feeling," he says, "would not wear 
false jewels, so would a builder of honour disdain 
false ornaments. The using of them is just as 
downright and inexcusable a lie." The third is 
the Lamp of Power : " Until that street archi- 
tecture of ours is bettered, until we give it some 
size and boldness, until we give our windows recess 
and our walls thickness, I know not how we can 
blame our architects for their feebleness in more 
important work." The fourth is the Lamp of 
Beauty, and in this chapter he maintains that " all 
the most lovely forms and thoughts" are directly 
taken from natural objects. The fifth is the Lamp 
of Life. "To those who love architecture," he 
says, " the life and accent of the hand are every- 
thing." The sixth is the Lamp of Memory : "All 
public edifices should be records of national life, 
all ordinary dwelling-houses endeared to their 
owners by sacred and sweet associations. There 
is infinite sanctity in a good man's house ! " The 



Sixty Years of 

seventh is the Lamp of Obedience, and here he 
pleads eloquently for the enforcement of an estab- 
lished type of architecture — the Gothic, in his 
judgment lending itself most readily to all services, 
vulgar or noble. The " Stones of Venice " (1851- 
1853), in three volumes, gives in further detail 
Ruskin's views of the laws of architecture. The 
pre-Raphaelite movement of Millais, Rossetti, and 
Holman Hunt early enlisted his sympathy, and in 
" Pre-Raphaelitism " (185 1) he declared that they 
had worthily followed the advice given in "Modern 
Painters," to "go to nature in all singleness of 
heart, and walk with her laboriously and trust- 
ingly, having no other thought but how best to 
penetrate her meaning ; rejecting nothing, select- 
ing nothing, and scorning nothing." From that 
time until his Slade lectures at Oxford in 1883- 
1884 Ruskin wrote several books on painting 
and architecture, all of them in a style which 
attracts even those who are least in sympathy 
with his opinions. 

But as Goethe declared of himself that posterity 
would honour him, not for his poetry, but for his 
discoveries in science, so Ruskin, perhaps more 
justly, insists that it is as an economist that he is 
most deserving of remembrance. The four essays 
on the first principles of political economy, entitled 
"Unto this Last " (1862), he declares to be "the 
truest, rightest-worded, and most serviceable 
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Victorian Literature 

things " he has ever written. These essays were 
originally published by Thackeray in the Cornhill 
Magazine, but the remonstrances of its readers 
brought the series to a speedy end. The principles 
of state socialism there initiated have since entered 
the field in direct contest with the established 
order of things. Mr. Ruskin would have every 
child in the country taught a trade at the cost of 
government ; he would have manufactories and 
workshops entirely under government regulation 
for the production and sale of every necessary of 
life, and for the exercise of every useful art; he 
would permit competition with government manu- 
factories and shops, but all who desired work could 
be sure of it at the state establishments : finally, he 
would provide comfortable homes for the old and 
destitute, as " it ought to be quite as natural and 
straightforward a matter for a labourer to take his 
pension from his parish, because he has deserved 
well of his parish, as for a man in higher rank to 
take his pension from his country because he has 
deserved well of his country." Ruskin has 
amplified his economic doctrines in "Munera 
Pulveris," " Time and Tide by Wear and Tyne," 
and "Fors Clavigera." "Time and Tide" is a 
collection of letters on the laws of work to the late 
Thomas Dixon, a working corkcutter of Sunderland. 
They were originally published in the Manchester 
Examiner. " Fors Clavigera " is a series of ninety 

133 



Sixty Years of 

six letters to working-men, which were issued 
in monthly parts, and rendered additionally 
interesting by the quantity of autobiographical 
anecdotes so freely interspersed in their pages. 
The title is derived, as Ruskin has explained, from 
the Latin fors, the best part of three good English 
words — force, fortitude, and fortune ; the root of 
the adjective clavigera being either clava, a club, 
dam's, a key, or claims, a nail, and gero, to carry. 
Fors the Club-bearer therefore represents the 
strength of Hercules or of Deed ; the Key-bearer, 
the strength of Ulysses or of Patience; and the 
Nail-bearer, the strength of Lycurgus or of Law. 

To carry out his principles practically, Ruskin 
established for a short time a tea shop in the 
Marylebone Road, where nothing but the best tea 
was sold at a fair price, and he founded the St. 
George's Guild with a view of showing "the rational 
organisation of country life independent of that of 
cities ; " or in other words, the restoration of the 
peasantry to the soil of England. One of the 
conditions of membership was that every member 
should give one-tenth of his property to the guild 
for carrying out its work. Ruskin led the way, his 
property being then estimated at ^70,000. He 
has told us in " Fors " that out of the ^15 7,000 left 
him by his parents he has spent ^153,000. Much 
of this must have gone to the Ruskin Museum at 
Sheffield. 

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Victorian Literature 

It is, however, in following Carlyle as a bracing 
invigorating influence that Ruskin has most claim 
on the gratitude of the present generation. If 
Carlyle taught us to be content with this " miser- 
able actual," with such environment as may have 
fallen to our lot, his disciple has given the impulse 
which has led to the beautifying of that environ- 
ment. The more refined taste in dress, furniture 
and in dwelling-houses which has characterised 
the later Victorian Era, and, side by side therewith, 
a greater simplicity of life on the part of the 
more cultured rich, are in an especial degree due 
to the influence of Ruskin. "What is chiefly 
needed in England at the present day," he says, 
" is to show the quantity of pleasure that may be 
obtained by a consistent, well-administered com- 
petence, modest, confessed, and laborious. We 
need examples of people who, leaving Heaven to 
decide whether they are to rise in the world, decide 
for themselves that they will be happy in it, and 
have resolved to seek — not greater wealth, but 
simpler pleasures ; not higher fortune, but deeper 
felicity; making the first of possessions, self-pos- 
session ; and honouring themselves in the harm- 
less pride and calm pursuits of peace." In the 
"Crown of Wild Olive," "Time and Tide," and 
" Sesame and Lilies," he emphasises this teaching 
with his customary eloquence. Of these books, by 
far the most important is "Sesame and Lilies," 

13S 



Sixty Years of 

which was written, he says, " while my energies 
were still unbroken and my temper unfretted, 
and if read in connection with ' Unto this Last,' 
contains the chief truths I have endeavoured 
through all my life to display, and which, under 
the warnings I have received to prepare for its 
close, I am chiefly thankful to have learnt and 
taught." It treats of " the majesty of the influence 
of good books and of good women, if we know 
how to read them and how to honour." How to 
read books he shows by analysing the well-known 
passage from Milton's " Lycidas " on " The Pilot 
of the Galilean Lake," and explaining the deep 
meaning of its every word. How to honour 
women, how women may become worthy of hon- 
our, he shows by taking us to Shakspere and 
to Scott, whose Portias and Rosalinds, Catherine 
Seytons and Diana Vernons are ever ready at 
critical moments to be a help and a guidance to 
men ; and finally he appeals to the great Floren- 
tine, and shows us Beatrice leading Dante through 
the starry spheres of heaven up to the very throne 
of light and of truth. But the book is full of 
healthy and helpful passages, and is, like so much 
that its author has written, a moral inspiration for 
all who read it. "lama great man," Ruskin once 
said, with a consciousness of genius which reminds 
us that Horace and Milton, Shakspere and Goethe 
were equally outspoken. Posterity, we may well 

*3 6 



- - 



Victorian Literature 

believe, will endorse the self-criticism, and will not 
willingly let his works or his memory die. 

Of late years Mr. Ruskin has lived, not in the 
most robust health, in a house at Coniston, in 
the English Lake District. 

The next most prominent critic of the period 
is one upon whom Ruskin has always poured 
his bitterest scorn, and who yet will be ever re- 
membered with warmest reverence by those 
who are old enough to have been his contem- 
poraries. I mean John Stuart Mill. 

Jeremy Bentham, who gave such an impulse to 
all political reform, and made a complete revolu- 
tion in English jurisprudence, died in 1832. His 
friend James Mill, who wrote the " History of 
India" and an "Analysis of the Human Mind," 
died four years later. " It was," says Professor 
Bain, " James Mill's greatest contribution to human 
progress to have given us his son." It may be so, 
and yet he seems to have done his utmost to spoil 
the gift, not, as children are usually spoiled, by 
over-indulgence, but by the most excessive severity. 

John Stuart Mill was born in Rodney Street, 1806-1873 
Pentonville. His education, which was conducted 
by his father, would have been the mental 
ruin of a mind of smaller powers. "I never 
was a boy," he said, "never played at cricket; 
it is better to let Nature have her own way." 
He began Greek at three, and Latin at eight 

137 



Sixty Years of 

years of age. The list of classical authors with 
whose works he was familiar at thirteen is truly 
appalling. This in itself would have been a 
small matter had not his cold, stern father dis- 
couraged all imaginative reading. Poetry in par- 
ticular he was taught to look upon as mere vanity, 
and there are few passages in Mill's "Autobio- 
graphy " more interesting than the story how in 
early manhood Wordsworth's poetry came to him 
like veritable "balm in Gilead," for spiritual 
refreshment and healing. In 1823 he obtained a 
clerkship in the India House, from which he with- 
drew, with ample compensation, when the Indian 
Government was transferred to the Crown in 1858. 
Meanwhile he had been an industrious contributor 
to the Westminster Review and other periodicals, 
and regularly attended the debates of the Specula- 
tive Society which met at Grote's house. Scarcely 
any scene in literature is better known than the 
destruction of the manuscript of Carlyle's " French 
Revolution " which he had lent to Mill. Mill lent 
it to Mrs. Taylor, the lady who afterwards became 
his wife, and it was inadvertently destroyed. The 
speechless agony of Mill when he went to inform 
his friend, the self-command with which Carry le 
and his wife concealed their own misery in en- 
deavouring to moderate his self-reproaches — 
these and many other details have been made 
familiar to us by many pens. Mill gave Carlyle 

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Victorian Literature 

what monetary compensation he could, and 
acted, as he always acted in life, with all possible 
nobleness. Mrs. Taylor, who was the real culprit 
on this occasion, was the wife of a wholesale 
druggist in Mark Lane. When Mill made her 
acquaintance, his father remonstrated, but he re- 
plied that he had no other feelings towards 
her than he would have towards an equally 
able man. The equivocal friendship, which was 
the talk of all Mill's circle of acquaintances, lasted 
for twenty years, when Mr. Taylor died, and Mill 
married his widow. It is impossible to regard the 
enthusiasm of Mill for this lady without feeling 
how much there was in it of the humorous, how 
much also of the pathetic. That Mill had a most 
exaggerated opinion of her intellectual attainments 
there can be no doubt. He declared her to be 
the author of all that was best in his writings. 
Much of his " Political Economy," he said, was 
her work, and also the "Liberty" and the " Sub- 
jection of Women." His language with regard to 
her was always extravagant, and Grote said that 
"only John Mill's reputation could survive such 
displays." Mill's brother George declared that 
she was " nothing like what John thought her," and 
there is much evidence to show that she was but 
a weak reflection of her husband. Still, it is im- 
possible not to sympathise with such an illusion. 
Mrs. Mill died in 1858, and was buried at Avignon, 

*39 



Sixty Years of 

in France, where Mill himself spent many of the 
later years of his life, and where he died in 1873. 
It was at Avignon that the Crown Princess of 
Prussia and the Princess Alice of Hesse proposed 
to visit him, when he, with due courtesy, declined 
to see them. 

Mill's works, which are very extensive, deal 
with philosophical, psychological, economical, and 
political problems. His " Logic " was published 
in 1843, his "Essays on Unsettled Questions in 
Political Economy " in 1844, his "Principles of 
Political Economy " in 1848, and his " Liberty " in 
1858. In 1865 he published his "Examination of 
Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy." Four volumes 
of " Dissertations and Discussions " appeared be- 
tween 1859 and 1867, and " Considerations on 
Representative Government " in 1861. In 1865 
he entered Parliament as Member for West- 
minster, losing his seat, however, in 1868. It 
would be hard to speak too highly of Mill. As 
a man he was all kindliness and considerate 
thoughtfulness for others, and his ideal of life 
was a very high one. Carlyle's Letters, Caroline 
Fox's Memoirs, and many other sources of in- 
formation, make this clear. On the literary side 
he will be variously estimated, as we survey him 
from one or other aspect of his many-sided career. 
As a stimulator of public opinion the work he did 
was enormous. This is not the place to discuss 

140 



Victorian Literature 

the value of this or that movement associated 
with his name ; but there can be no doubt that 
many questions, like the reform of the land laws, 
were initiated by him. In the seventies his philo- 
sophy dominated Oxford. It is of no account to-day. 
On the philosophical side Mill's position is 
weakened by his ignorance of the more simple 
sciences, which we now know to be of the greatest 
moment in the study of intellectual problems. 
Mill knew little of physics, and of biology still less. 
His education in this respect belonged to the old- 
fashioned type. His work in logic is all but un- 
shaken, although his book has been superseded for 
school and college use. His psychology, however, 
his ethics, much of his economics, and above all, 
his metaphysics, must be corrected by later ideas. 
Doubtless Mill's readjustments in mental science 
are most valuable, especially his rehandling of 
the old doctrines ; but fundamentally these are 
Hume's. Mill's chief philosophical work was de- 
structive. He utterly routed the remnants of a 
still earlier philosophy, furbished up with all the 
knowledge and all the acuteness of Sir William 
Hamilton. But the great generalisations which 
have changed the whole drift of our philosophy 
are the Conservation of Energy, and Evolution, 
including as the latter does the laws and con- 
ditions of life, and in particular the doctrine 
of Heredity. For adequate philosophical guid- 
141 



Sixty Years of 

ance on these subjects we must turn to Herbert 
Spencer. 

But first let me point to the number of political 
economists who have followed Mill in the discus- 
sion of the relation of society to the "wealth " it 
produces. Mill's " Political Economy " was more 
of a systematic summary of the prevailing doctrines 
than an original work. It long formed, how- 
ever, the basis of ordinary English knowledge 
on the subject, and by its adhesion to the Wages 
Fund and other erroneous theories, it did not 
a little harm as well as good to Economic Science. 
Mill's most enthusiastic disciple in economics, 
1833-1884 Henry Fawcett, went far beyond his master in his 
acceptance of the main doctrines of the Ricardo 
school. Many of the positions maintained in his 
" Political Economy " were abandoned by Mill 
before his death, particularly the Wages Fund 
theory; and in his "Autobiography" he traced 
his own progress to views which, as he said, 
would class him " under the general designation 
of Socialist." He declared himself in favour of 
" the common ownership in the raw material of 
the globe, and an equal participation of all in the 
benefits of combined labour." 1 

Professor Fawcett, who published his " Manual 
of Political Economy " in 1863, continued to 

1 "Autobiography " by John Stuart Mill (1869), pp. 232, 
233- 

I42 



Victorian Literature 

the last to hold to the old views, and especially 
to favour as little as possible the intervention 
of the State. As member of Parliament, first 
for Brighton and afterwards for Hackney, he 
did great service by his criticisms of Indian 
finance. For more than four years (i 880-1 884) 
he held the position of Postmaster-General, 
and introduced many valuable reforms into the 
department under his administration. Other 
economists of importance, John Elliott Cairnes 1824-1875 
and William Stanley Jevons, have differed from 1835-1882 
Mill in many theoretic principles ; but the fairest 
survey of the later developments of Mill's economics 
is given by Henry Sidgwick, Knightbridge Pro- 1838- 
fessor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge, and by 
Alfred Marshall (born 1842). In his "Principles 
of Political Economy" (1883) Sidgwick attempts, 
with great clearness, to criticise the conflicting 
views of the older economists in the light of the 
modern and more socialist views. He also at- 
tempts in his " Methods of Ethics" (1874) a com- 
promise between the Utilitarian and the Intuitionist 
schools, and he does this also in his " Elements of 
Politics" (i89i),a comprehensive survey of politi- 
cal science. Mr. Marshall, who holds the Chair 
of Political Economy, at Cambridge, has written 
"Economics of Industry" (1879), and " Principles 
of Economics " (1890). A writer who did much 
to make foreign economists known in England, and 

143 



Sixty Years of 

who seemed at one time destined to be the able 
leader of a new school, was Thomas Edward Cliffe 
1827-1882 Leslie, whose " Essays " are full of terse and sug- 
gestive criticism. Cliffe Leslie died, however, 
without writing any work of first-rate importance. 
He did something, however, following the line of 
writers like Richard Jones (1790-1855), to bring 
academic theory to the test of actual facts. 

During the last twenty years of the century, 
economic study has taken increasingly the direction 
of elaborate investigation of the circumstances of 
industrial life. On the one hand, a school of 
economic historians, — Arnold Toynbee, with a 
brilliant aper$u on " The Industrial Revolution," 
Thorold Rogers in his monumental "History of 
Agriculture and Prices," Dr. Cunningham, in the 
" Growth of English History and Commerce," and 
Professor W. J. Ashley in " Economic History and 
Theory," have greatly extended our knowledge of 
past industry. On the other we have the colossal 
work undertaken at his own expense by Mr. Charles 
Booth, assisted by a group of zealous students — in- 
cluding H. Llewellyn Smith, D. F. Schloss, and 
Miss Clara Collet, now all filling official posts at 
the Labour Department of the Board of Trade ; 
and Miss Beatrice Potter (now Mrs. Sidney Webb) 
— a complete survey of London life, statistical, 
economic, industrial, and social. The nine 
volumes of this " Life and Labour of the People," 

144 



Victorian Literature 

already issued, constitute one of the most im- 
portant statistical works ever undertaken by a 
private person. Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb 
wrote together another valuable contribution to 
economic science in "The History of Trade 
Unionism" (1894). 

But political economy is merely a branch of the 
larger science of sociology, and for the first general 
treatment of the whole science, since Comte, we 
turn to the most characteristic philosopher of 
the century. Herbert Spencer was born at Derby, 1820- 
where his father was a teacher of mathematics. 
From his father and uncle, the latter a Congrega- 
tional minister, he received his early education. 
Articled at seventeen years of age to a civil engin- 
eer, he followed that profession with some success 
for seven or eight years, when he gradually drifted 
into literature — a series of letters by him " On the 
Proper Sphere of Government " appearing in the 
Nonconformist for 1842. A few years later, he 
wrote for the Westminster Review, at the house of 
the editor of which magazine he met George Eliot 
in 185 1, and began the most famous friendship 
of his life. It was also in 1851 that he pub- 
lished his first work, "Social Statics," and four 
years later his " Principles of Psychology." In 
1 86 1 he published his work on " Education," and 
the following year his " First Principles." Between 
that time and 1896 he has slowly built up a system 
k i 45 



Sixty Years of 

of synthetic philosophy, in a dozen bulky volumes, 
which has secured him a very large following not 
only in England, but throughout the Continent 
and America. His " Descriptive Sociology " is 
the production of many writers, who have worked 
under his direction, collecting facts from travellers 
and scientists all over the world. 

To have placed Psychology and Ethics on a 
scientific basis in harmony with the discoveries of 
the century is a truly great achievement. Many 
years have now passed away since Herbert Spencer 
claimed the whole domain of knowledge as his own, 
and undertook to revise, in accordance with the 
latest lights, the whole sphere of philosophy. 
What must have seemed intolerable presumption 
in i860 became in 1896 a completed task. In 
universality of knowledge he rivals Aristotle and 
Bacon at a time when the sphere of learning 
is immensely larger than in their epochs. It is 
not within the province of this survey of literature 
to go through the twelve large volumes of his works 
in detail. We would rather point out that, to the 
unphilosophical reader, who would willingly know 
something of Spencer's literary powers, the " Study 
of Sociology," which he wrote for the " Interna- 
tional Scientific Series," and the treatise on " Edu- 
cation " are books which all who read must enjoy. 

To him, with Mill, belongs the glory of restoring 
to Great Britain the old supremacy in philosophy 

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Victorian Literature 

given to her by Bacon, continued by Locke, Hume, 
and Berkeley, but temporarily interrupted by Kant 
and Hegel. 

Another writer who has attempted to combine 
psychology with physiology is Alexander Bain, 1818- 
who was for many years Professor of Logic in the 
University of Aberdeen, and twice Lord Rector. 
Bain assisted Mill in the preparation of his 
" Logic," and has himself written a treatise on that 
science, also lengthy works on " The Senses and 
the Intellect," and " The Emotions and the Will." 
Perhaps his work on " Mental and Moral Science " 
is his best-known contribution to student literature. 
Although he is the author of books on gram- 
mar and composition, Professor Bain's style is 
always oppressively heavy and unattractive. As 
Spencer and Bain combined psychology with 
physiology, so it was the effort of Boole and De 
Morgan to extend the scope of logic by an in- 
genious application of mathematics. 

The leader for many years of the " Hegelian " 
school of philosophy at Oxford, which has long 
held the field against Mill on the one hand and 
Spencer on the other, was Thomas Hill Green, who 1838-1882 
was appointed Whyte Professor of Moral Philosophy 
in 1877, and who published the same year a series 
of articles in the Contemporary Review, on " Mr. 
Herbert Spencer and Mr. G. H. Lewes : their Ap- 
plication of the Doctrine of Evolution to Thought." 

147 



Sixty Years of 

He was preparing for publication his " Prolegomena 
to Ethics " at the time of his death, and the work 
was finally edited by Professor A. C. Bradley, who 
has himself written a treatise on logic, and whose 
Hegelian work, entitled " Ethical Studies," is of 
the highest interest. Green was a moral force in 
Oxford, quite apart from his philosophical specula- 
tion, as the following extract from one of his lectures 
will indicate : — "I confess to hoping for a time 
when the phrase, ' the education of a gentleman,' 
will have lost its meaning, because the sort of edu- 
cation which alone makes the gentleman in any true 
sense will be within the reach of all. As it was 
the aspiration of Moses that all the Lord's people 
should be prophets, so with all seriousness and 
reverence we may hope and pray for a condition 
of English society in which all honest citizens will 
recognise themselves and be recognised by each 
other as gentlemen." 
1817-1878 George Henry Lewes, whose name is frequently 
joined with that of Spencer by his association of 
biology with ethics and psychology, was the son of 
Charles Lee Lewes, the actor, and was one of the 
most versatile writers of our times. His first 
important work was the " Biographical History of 
Philosophy," originally published in 1845 in 
Knight's Shilling Library, but amplified without 
improvement into two substantial volumes in 
1867. Lewes's distaste for the ordinary meta- 

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Victorian Literature 

physics, and the severity of his criticism on 
Hegel, have rendered this work the bete noir of 
all transcendental students ; but it remains the one 
English " History of Philosophy " of any preten- 
sion. More unqualified praise may be given to 
the " Life of Goethe," which Lewes published in 
1855. Perhaps no other man then living could 
have shown himself competent to deal with 
Goethe's many-sidedness — to discuss " Faust" 
and "Tasso," " Hermann und Dorothea " at one 
moment, the poet's biological and botanical dis- 
coveries the next, and to estimate at their true 
worth the speculations on colours, which Goethe 
held to be more calculated than his poems to 
secure him immortality. The book remains the 
standard life of the great Weimar sage in . this 
country, and is popular in Germany, in spite of a vast 
Goethe literature which has been published since 
its appearance. In addition to these great works 
Lewes wrote two novels, one of which, " Ran- 
thorpe," Charlotte Bronte praised enthusiastically. 
He edited the Fortnightly Review, arid also initi- 
ated a craze for aquaria, by his " Seaside Studies ; " 
he endeavoured, indeed, to popularise many of the 
sciences, particularly physiology." His last years 
were devoted to philosophical questions, and his 
" Problems of Life and Mind" were published in 
fragments, the concluding volume, under George 
Eliot's editorship, after his death. 

149 



Sixty Years of 

The earliest writer of the era to popularise 
1781-1868 science was Sir David Brewster, an eminent 
physicist, in whose Edinburgh Cyclopaedia Carlyle 
commenced his literary career. His " Life of 
Newton," "Martyrs of Science," and "More 
Worlds than One " are still widely read. Michael 
1791-1867 Faraday, another famous physicist, is still better 
remembered by our own generation, principally 
for his popular lectures at the Royal Institution, 
where he was superintendent of the laboratory for 
forty-eight years. He was a blacksmith's son, and 
was originally apprenticed to a bookbinder. After 
his discovery of magneto- electricity, he had, he 
told Tyndall, a hard struggle to decide whether he 
should make wealth or science the pursuit of his 
life. Tyndall calculates that Faraday could easily 
have realised ,£150,000; but he declared for 
science and died a poor man. 
[820-1893 John Tyndall, who once said that it was his great 
ambition to play the part of Schiller to this Goethe, 
succeeded Faraday at the Royal Institution, and 
wrote about him eloquently in his " Faraday as a 
Discoverer." Tyndall was born at Leighlin 
Bridge, Carlow, Ireland, in 1820. His father was 
a member of the Irish constabulary. His services 
to many branches of science were great ; but he 
concerns us here not so much by his treatises on 
electricity, sound, light, and heat, or by his dis- 
coveries in diamagnetism, as by his " Lectures on 

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Victorian Literature 

Science for Unscientific People," which, Huxley 
said, was the most scientific book he had ever 
read, and which has yet the transcendent merit of 
giving enjoyment as well as instruction, even to the 
readers of three-volume novels. In 1856 Tyndall 
made a journey to Switzerland, in company with 
Professor Huxley, and the friends afterwards wrote 
a treatise "On the Structure and Motion of 
Glaciers." Geological treatises may be said to 
have given the fullest play to the literary side 
of science. The work of Robert Bentley and 
Sir Joseph Hooker in botany, of Michael Foster, 
St. George Mivart, and Francis Maitland Balfour in 
biology, is, it may be, equal or superior to that 
of the bulk of the writers whose achievements 
we have chronicled ; but it is not a part of 
literature. Burdon Sanderson, Balfour Stewart, 
and a host of other men, have done incalculable 
service in the Victorian Era — service, it is to 
be feared, which scarcely obtains as generous re- 
cognition as the cheap generalisations of smaller 
men ; but scientific text- books, however important, 
are scarcely within the scope of these chapters. 
Geology, on the other hand is, as it were, a con- 
glomerate of the sciences, and lends itself readily 
to the most eloquent literary expression. Few 
writers have been more widely read than Hugh 
Miller, a Cromarty stone-mason, whose first 1802-1856 
enthusiasm for study of the rocks arose from 

1 S I 



Sixty Years of 

following his trade, but whose life was mainly 
devoted to journalism, and to editing The Witness. 
His " Old Red Sandstone," " Footprints of the 
Creator," and "The Testimony of the Rocks" 
were effective in kindling a taste for natural 
science. 

The special study which Miller gave to the Red 
Sandstone rocks was extended by Sir Roderick 

1792-1871 Impey Murchison to the Silurian System, and his 
work entitled " Siluria " has passed through many 
editions. Scotland seems to have been the nursery 
of geologists, for Miller and Murchison, Lyell 
and the brothers Geikie, were all born north of 

1797-1875 the Tweed. Sir Charles Lyell was born at Kin- 
nordy, in Forfarshire, and educated at Midhurst, 
and at Exeter College, Oxford. Called to the bar, 
he went the Western Circuit for two years, but, 
when attending some of Dr. Buckland's lectures, 
he became attached to geology. His " Principles 
of Geology," first published in 1830, caused a 
revolution in the science. Never before had 
there been presented such a connected illustration 
of the influences which had caused the earth's 
changes in the unresting distribution of land 
and water areas. Much of LyelPs great work 
reads like a fairy tale ; much might have been 
thought the fruit of an imaginative rather than of 
a scientific mind. Lyell' s smaller book, the 
" Student's Elements of Geology," was injured in 

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Victorian Literature 

literary merit by the progressive study of the 
science of which he had been the second father. 
The constant addition of fresh knowledge, and his 
conversion to Darwin's views necessitated the con- 
tinual rewriting of parts and further revision by 
other hands after the author's death. "The 
Antiquity of Man " (in defence of Darwin's theory) 
is of more value from a literary standpoint. Before 
the beginning of the reign William Buckland, Dean 1784-1856 
of Westminster, by whose lectures Lyell had so 
much profited, had written his famous Bridgewater 
Treatise on " Geology and Mineralogy considered 
with reference to Natural Theology." His son, 
Frank Buckland, wrote clever and readable books 1826- 1880 
on " Natural History," and had genuine enthusiasm 
for the study of animal life ; but he was charged 
with having vulgarised the studies in which he 
took so keen an interest. The most distinguished 
living geologist is Sir Archibald Geikie, who is 
now director-general of the Geological Survey of 
the United Kingdom. His " Text Book," which 
was first published in 1882, is a model of lucid 
writing, and his essays are among the most pleasant 
literary products of the age. His brother, James 
Geikie, has written an important work on glacia- 
tion, entitled "The Great Ice Age." 

But the scientific literature of the past sixty years 
might almost be said to be summarised in the work 
of Charles Darwin. A funeral in Westminster 1809-1882 

J 53 



Sixty Years of 

Abbey, amid the mourning of many nations, closed 
the career of one whose life-work had often been 
greeted with scorn. " Our century is Darwin's 
century," said a leading German newspaper {Allge- 
meine Zeitung) at his death, and the statement is 
no exaggeration. Those who witnessed the long 
stream of prelates and nobles who filed through 
the Abbey at his funeral, the then Archbishop of 
Canterbury (Dr. Tait) and the present Prime 
Minister (Lord Salisbury) among the number, 
could not but recall the reception of the great 
investigator's theory twenty years before. Bishop 
Wilberforce in particular denounced it in the 
Quarterly Review as " a flimsy speculation." 
Darwin's antecedents were of a nature such as, 
on the principle of heredity, a great man should 
possess. His paternal grandfather, Erasmus Dar- 
win, was a poet, whose " Botanic Garden " may 
still be read with interest. His maternal grand- 
father was Josiah Wedgwood, the famous potter. 
Darwin was the son of a doctor of Shrewsbury, and 
was educated at the Grammar School of that city 
and at Christ's College, Cambridge. Here his 
natural history studies were sympathetically directed 
by Professor Henslow, the botanist, by whose re- 
commendation he was selected to accompany the 
Beagle on its expedition to survey the South Ameri- 
can coast. The results of his travels were em- 
bodied in his first important work, " Journals of 

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Victorian Literature 

Researches during a Voyage round the World," 
which was published in 1839, an d was republished 
under the title of "A Naturalist's Voyage round 
the World." In the same year he married his 
cousin, Miss Wedgwood, and, after a few years of 
London life, took up his residence in a pleasant 
country house at Down, near Beckenham, in Kent. 
Here he pursued his remarkable investigations 
until his death, surrounded by his accomplished 
children, and finding, as he told a friend, his 
highest emotional gratification in the joys of family 
life and a love of animate nature. Two of his 
sons, George Howard Darwin and Francis Darwin, 
have done good work in science, the one in geology 
and astronomy, the other in botany. Darwin him- 
self wrote also on the " Structure and Distribution 
of Coral Reefs," revolutionising the popular 
view concerning these remarkable phenomena. 
Discovering that reef-building polyps cannot live 
at depths of more than twenty fathoms, he found 
it necessary to explain the presence of rocks 
built by them which rise from more than 2000 feet 
below the surface of the sea. This he did on the 
hypothesis of a gradual subsidence of the sea-floor 
whilst the polyps are at work. This view has since 
been generally accepted by geologists, although 
somewhat modified by Dr. John Murray's observa- 
tion in the Challenger expedition, that the reefs 
are not always of solid coral, and that they may in 

!55 



Sixty Years of 

many cases have been formed on the cones of 
extinct volcanoes. 

Darwin had pondered for many years over the 
theory which was to make him famous before he 
decided to bring his conclusions before the public. 
After considerable observation of every form of 
animal and vegetable life and experiments in 
selective breeding he concluded that the species 
of plants and animals now on the earth were 
not created in their present form, but had been 
evolved by unbroken descent with modification 
of structure from cruder forms, the remains of 
many of which are constantly discovered in 
the older rocks. He discovered in 1858 that 
Alfred Russel Wallace had independently 
arrived at the same conclusions, and so it 
was agreed that their views should be jointly laid 
before the Linnsean Society. In 1859 the "Origin 
of Species " was published, and it was followed by 
a number of works bearing upon the same subject, 
the most notable of all being the "Descent of 
Man." Darwin's work on " Earth Worms," perhaps 
the most purely literary of all his writings, appeared 
the year before his death. It is not the province 
of a sketch of Victorian literature to discuss the 
many important bearings of the Darwinian hypo- 
thesis. Received with unbounded contempt by 
literary men so eminent as Carlyle and Ruskin, it 
was accepted only with qualification by men of 

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Victorian Literature 

science like Agassiz, Carpenter, and Owen ; but an 
overwhelming majority of scientific men in England, 
America, and above all in Continental countries, 
have declared in its favour. The theory has re- 
ceived popular interpretation in Germany from 
Haeckel, and in England from Huxley, although 
in this connection we must not forget George John 
Romanes, the author of " Animal Intelligence " and 1848-1894 
" Mental Evolution in Animals," Grant Allen, and 
Edward Clodd. 

Thomas Henry Huxley, one of the greatest of 1825-1895 
our men of science, was of interest not only on 
account of his vast scientific attainments, but for 
his profound acquaintance with metaphysics, as 
illustrated in his "Life of Hume," his wide 
culture, and his exquisite literary style. He was 
born and educated at Ealing, in Middlesex, where 
his father was a schoolmaster. He studied medi- 
cine at the Charing Cross Hospital, then entered 
the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon, and went 
in the Rattlesnake to survey the Barrier Reef of 
Australia. The papers which he sent to the Royal 
and Linnsean Societies gave him fame. After his 
return he devoted himself to original research ; but 
work of that sort brings no recompense in money, 
and Huxley's means were narrow. In 1854, how- 
ever, he obtained the chairs of Natural History 
and Palaeontology at the School of Mines, and 
to this he afterwards added the appointment of 

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Sixty Years of 

Inspector of Fisheries. The "blue ribbon" of 
science, the Presidency of the Royal Society, was 
conferred on him in 1883. Huxley wrote much 
on biological problems, and by the publication 
of his " Physiography " gave a new name to the 
science which has extended the scope of the old 
Physical Geography : but his chief interest for us 
here is in his "Lay Sermons," "Addresses and 
Reviews," his "Critiques and Addresses," and his 
"American Addresses," all of which may take 
rank among the finest prose of our age. 

As an interesting contrast to the work of Darwin 
and Huxley, and all that it has implied to modern 
literature, one may refer once again to the move- 
ment inspired by Cardinal Newman. His most 
prominent associates for many years, neither of 
whom, however, left the Church of England for 
the Church of Rome, were Pusey and Keble. 
1800-1882 Edward Bouverie Pusey was practically the 
founder of the modern High Church movement 
in the Anglican community. A writer of " Tracts 
for the Times," he was, after Newman had " gone 
over to Rome," the recognised head of the move- 
ment, and his followers were frequently called 
"Puseyites." A demoralisation of the party 
seemed inevitable on Newman's secession, but 
the publication of Dr. Pusey's " Letter to Keble " 
gave it fresh life. In 1866 his "Eirenicon," a 

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Victorian Literature 

proposal for the reunion of Christendom, drew 
a reply from Cardinal Newman, with whom, how- 
ever, he maintained the profoundest friendship to 
the end. John Keble, who was born at Fairford, 1792-1866 
in Gloucestershire, was a man of far higher gifts. 
Educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he 
obtained a fellowship at Oriel. For some years 
he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford, a position 
for which he had qualified himself by the publi- 
cation of the " Christian Year," a volume of 
religious poems for every Sunday and church 
festival, many of which have been admitted into 
the hymnology of all the Christian sects. Perhaps 
truer poetry is to be found in his " Lyra Inno- 
centium," a series of poems on children, for there 
the human element is more marked. Keble also 
wrote a " Life of Bishop Wilson," and published 
several volumes of sermons. 

The movement of Liberal theology, to which 
men like Keble gave the name of "national 
apostasy," was headed in its earlier developments 
by Archbishop Whately and Dr. Arnold of Rugby, 
and more recently by the Rev. Frederick Denison 
Maurice and Dean Stanley. Richard Whately, 1787-1863 
who was at Oriel with Keble, had published his 
once popular " Logic " and " Rhetoric " before 
the commencement of the reign of Victoria, and 
in 1 83 1 had been made Archbishop of Dublin, 

159 



Sixty Years of 

a position which he held till his death, in 1863, 
winning all hearts by his kindness and liberality, 
by his generous tolerance and zeal for progress. 
His " Logic" is chiefly of importance for the 
impetus it gave to the study of that science. 
His "Christian Evidences" gained in its day a 
1795-1842 wider audience. Thomas Arnold was born at 
East Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, and was edu- 
cated at Winchester, and with Keble at Corpus 
Christi College, Oxford. After ordination he re- 
moved to Laleham-on-Thames, where he prepared 
young men for the universities. When, in 1827, 
the head-mastership of Rugby became vacant, 
Arnold was elected on the strength of a recom- 
mendation by Dr. Hawkins, to the effect that he 
"would change the face of education all through 
the public schools of England." The prophecy 
was fulfilled. He was the first to introduce 
modern languages and modern history and mathe- 
matics into the regular school course. At the 
same time he always insisted on the value of the 
classics as a basis of education, and himself pre- 
pared an edition of " Thucydides," and wrote a 
" History of Rome " in its earlier periods, which is 
at least eminently interesting. His services to his 
country as an educational reformer were even 
greater on. the moral side. Dr. Arnold was a 
purifying influence to men of the higher classes, 
to a degree which is inexplicable to the present 

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Victorian Literature 

generation. For a time he was unpopular, and his 
school suffered, through his advocacy of church re- 
form and his association with political Liberalism ; 
but the success of his pupils at the universities had 
caused a reaction in his favour at the time of his 
death, which occurred all too early, for he was 
only forty-seven. Of his many distinguished 
pupils, perhaps the best known are Tom Hughes 
and Dean Stanley. Thomas Hughes, who in 1882 1823- 1896 
was made a county-court judge, wrote many books, 
but only one of them entitles him to be remem- 
bered to-day. In a moment of happy inspiration, 
he wrote the finest boy's book in the language. 
" Tom Brown's School Days " was published in 
1857. It is a picture of life at Rugby, under 
Dr. Arnold's healthy, manly guidance. 

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley wrote his "Life ofi8is-i88i 
Dr. Arnold" in 1844. A son of Edward Stanley, 
Bishop of Norwich, he was born at Alderley, in 
Cheshire. From Rugby he went to Balliol Col- 
lege, Oxford, where he had an exceptionally dis- 
tinguished career. In 1851 he became a canon of 
Canterbury, and his picturesque "Memorials of 
Canterbury" were the outcome of residence in 
that city. In 1863 he was made Dean of West- 
minster, notwithstanding the opposition of the 
High Church party, to whom the theological views 
expressed in his numerous works were distasteful. 
Of these writings, "Sinai and Palestine," "Lee- 
L .161 



Sixty Years of 

tures on the Eastern Church," and " Lectures on 
the Jewish Church," are the best known. As Dean 
of Westminster Dr. Stanley became an active leader 
of the Broad Church movement. Although not a 
contributor to " Essays and Reviews," his services 
to the movement were incalculable. He invited 
Max Miiller to lecture in the Abbey, befriended 
Pere Hyacinthe, and gave sympathy to Bishop 
Colenso. His speeches in the Lower House of 
Convocation, particularly one in which he pro- 
posed the suppression of the Athanasian Creed 
in the services of the Church, made him many 
enemies ; but few ecclesiastics have been so beloved 
by both sovereign and people. One recalls the 
pleasant, active little man, so proud of his Abbey 
Church, with a deep sigh that he should be no 
more. His life was written by his successor, Dean 
Bradley. 

Of the contributors to " Essays and Reviews," 
the manifesto of the Broad Church party, which 
appeared in i860, Frederick Temple must be 
mentioned, because his contribution, " The Educa- 
tion of the World," led to a frantic effort to prevent 
his receiving the bishopric of Exeter, an effort 
which was unsuccessful. In 1885 Dr. Temple was 
made Bishop of London, and in 1896 Archbishop 
of Canterbury. Other distinguished writers in 
" Essays and Reviews " were Dr. Jowett and Mr. 
1817-1893 Mark Pattison. Benjamin Jowett, master of 

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Victorian Literature 

Balliol, who wrote the essay on " The Interpreta- 
tion of Scripture," achieved his greatest successes 
by his brilliant translations of Plato, Thucydides, 
and "The Politics" of Aristotle. His Plato 
drew from John Bright, who was little inclined to 
appreciate the great thoughts of the Athenian 
philosopher, an expression of admiration for the 
classic English of the Oxford professor. Jowett's 
life was written by Evelyn Abbott and Lewis 
Campbell. Mark Pattison, whose contribution 1813-1884 
to "Essays and Reviews" was on "The Tenden- 
cies of Religious Thought in England," assisted 
Newman and Pusey in the early days of the Trac- 
tarian movement, but finally went over to the 
Liberalism which they so much dreaded. In 1861 
he was elected Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. 
Pattison was a profound scholar. Few men have 
led lives so absorbed in books. The results of his 
learning are apparent in his interesting " Life of 
Isaac Casaubon," which he had hoped to follow 
by a life of Scaliger. 

But men like Jowett and Pattison have been the 
arm-chair representatives of a movement which 
found one of its most active supporters in John 
Frederick Denison Maurice. Maurice was the son 1805-1872 
of a Unitarian minister, and was born at Norman- 
stone, near Lowestoft. For a time he was editor 
of the Athenceuni, but joined the Anglican 
Church in 1831, and accepted a curacy near 
163 



Sixty Years of 

Leamington. A treatise entitled " Subscription 
no Bondage," which defined his position in the 
Church, excited much attention, as did also his 
tracts on the " Kingdom of Christ." In conjunc- 
tion with Kingsley and Hughes he published pam- 
phlets called " Politics for the People," and organ- 
ised the Christian socialist and co-operative move- 
ment of 1850. Like Kingsley, Maurice may be 
labelled a Broad Churchman, not so much on 
doctrinal grounds as for the breadth of his 
sympathies. It was social rather than theological 
problems to which he attached importance. 
Kingsley, indeed, described himself to correspond- 
ents as a Broad Churchman, a High Churchman, 
and an Evangelical, as the mood seemed to take 
him. Bishop Colenso is a good type of the more 
1814-1883 militant theologians. John William Colenso first 
came before the public as the author of mathemati- 
cal text-books. At this time he was vicar of Forn- 
cett St. Mary, in Norfolk, but in 1853 he was made 
Bishop of Natal. In South Africa he was a zealous 
advocate of the rights of the natives against the 
oppression of the Boers and Cape Town officials ; 
but in a measure his influence was weakened by 
the publication of his work on Biblical criticism, 
" The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Critically 
Examined," which was condemned by both Houses 
of Convocation as heretical. When Colenso came 
to England in 1874 he was inhibited from preach- 

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Victorian Literature 

ing in the dioceses of London, Lincoln, and 
Oxford. At Oxford, however, his sermon was read 
from the pulpit of Balliol while the Bishop sat 
below, and the same device was pursued at Mr. 
Stopford Brooke's Church in London. Dean 
Stanley invited him to the Abbey pulpit, claiming 
freedom from the jurisdiction of Dr. Jackson, the 
then Bishop of London ; but Colenso declined to 
increase the ill-feeling which had been excited. 

Another distinguished member of the Broad 
Church party, Edwin Abbott, was head-master of 1838- 
the City of London School from 1865 t0 1889. 
He has published several educational works. His 
religious influence has developed itself through 
" Philochristus ; Memoirs of a Disciple of our 
Lord," and " Onesimus ; Memoirs of a Disciple 
of St. Paul," also by a volume of sermons, 
"Through Nature to Christ," which is perhaps 
the best evidence of the development of the 
Broad Church movement. Dr. Whately, one of 
its founders, argued for the miracles as indicative 
of the Divine origin of Christianity; Dr. Abbott 
esteems the insistence on miracles as a bar to 
belief. Perhaps the purest and most inspiring of 
all the eloquent teachers belonging to this party 
was Frederick William Robertson of Brighton, 1816-1853 
whose sermons have been widely read, especially 
in America, and whose lectures are as helpful and 
bracing as any written in our time. Robertson's 

165 



Sixty Years of 

remarkable career of only thirty-seven years has 
been made known to us by the beautiful life which 
was written by Mr. Stopford Brooke. Stopford 

1832- Augustus Brooke was born in Dublin and educated 
at Trinity College. At first he was a Church of 
England clergyman and a Queen's Chaplain, but 
seceded in 1880 on account of his inability to 
believe in many supernatural phases of Christian 
teaching. His " Primer of English Literature," 
"History of Early English Poetry," "Theology in 
the English Poets," and " Life of Milton " have the 
ring of the genuine, and, indeed, of the great, critic. 
Outside the pale of the Anglican community, 
but powerful factors in that same Broad Church 
movement which has been charged with " stretch- 
ing the old formula to meet the new facts," one 
recalls the names of Lynch and Martineau. 

1818-1871 Thomas Toke Lynch was born at Dunmow, in 
Essex, and held for many years the ministry of 
a small Congregational Church, first in Grafton 
Street and afterwards in the Hampstead Road, 
London. He died in comparative obscurity; 
but the poems in his "Rivulet," once con- 
demned as heretical, have found their way into 
most hymnologies. 

1805- James Martineau was born at Norwich, and 

was originally educated for the profession of civil 
engineer, but turned to theological studies, and 
was for some time the minister of a Presbyterian 

166 



Victorian Literature 

Church in Dublin. Then, during a residence in 
Liverpool, he became a supporter of the philosophy 
of Bentham and the elder Mill, but finally aban- 
doned that position for Kantian metaphysics. 
Thenceforth he was to be a great power on behalf 
of the Theistic and Unitarian position, and he 
turned vigorously upon the materialistic beliefs 
which he had abandoned, and was, it may be 
added, somewhat too harsh to his sister Harriet 
when, later in life, she adopted them. His " En- 
deavour after the Christian Life " and " Hours 
of Thought on Sacred Things " are two of his 
best known works, although a more philosophical 
interest attaches to his " Study of Spinoza " and 
his " Types of Ethical Theory." 

I have dwelt at some length on the work of the 
High Church and Broad Church parties during the 
reign, because with these bodies it has been a 
period of great literary achievement, and it can 
scarcely be claimed that Evangelicanism, however 
earnest, zealous, and numerically powerful, has 
added much of enduring worth to religious litera- 
ture. Richard William Church, Dean of St.Paul's, 1815-1890 
who wrote so eloquently on Dante and St. Anselm, 
belonged to the Liberal High Church school, as 
did also Henry Parry Liddon, a canon of the same i82g-i8go 
cathedral, whose Bampton lectures " On the Divin- 
ity of Jesus Christ " marked him out as one of the 
most eloquent of modern preachers. One of the 

167 



Sixty Years of 

greatest scholars in the English Church, Joseph 

1828-1889 Barber Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, who replied 
to the author of " Supernatural Religion," belonged 
to the same party. Midway between the Broad 
Church and the Evangelical schools we find 

1831- Frederick William Farrar, Dean of Canterbury, 
who, as head- master of Marlborough College, 
wrote stories of boy life. He succeeded 
Kingsley as a Canon of Westminster, and excited 
much attention by his sermons on the doctrine 
of eternal punishment. His lives of Christ 
and of St. Paul have been widely read. John 

1816- Charles Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool, has been 
perhaps the most famous literary exponent of 
the Evangelical position. "Shall we know one 
another in Heaven" and "Bible Inspiration " were 
characteristic books from his pen. John Saul 

1816-1885 Howson, Dean of Chester, who, in conjunction 
with the Rev. W. J. Conybeare, wrote an able 
work on "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul," 
was also a Low Churchman. 

The most distinguished Nonconformist minister 
of the Victorian period, and the man whose ser- 
mons found most readers, was Charles Haddon 

1834-1892 Spurgeon, with whom eloquence and earnestness 
were combined with the possession of a simple 
English style, which he derived from a study 
of the Puritan fathers. In " John Plough- 
man's Talk " (1868) Spurgeon put forth 

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Victorian Literature 

much homely wisdom in a quaint and humorous 
garb. 

I have said well nigh enough concerning 
speculative writers and theologians, but it is 
necessary to mention here Henry Longueville 
Mansel, who succeeded Milman as Dean of St. 1820-1871 
Paul's. Mansel was a vigorous defender of the 
Anglican position. "The Limits of Religious 
Thought " was the title of one of his books ; 
" Metaphysics, or the Philosophy of Conscious- 
ness, Phenomenal and Real," was another, but he 
crossed swords with many disputants, with F. D. 
Maurice, with J. S. Mill, and indeed he was ever 
a fighter, subtle and skilful. Another theologian, 
Cardinal Manning, was a disputant on behalf of 1808-1892 
Roman Catholicism, he having left the Anglican 
Church in 1851. His many books and sermons 
are to-day only of interest to the theological 
student. His life was written in 1896, and caused 
much controversy through its exceeding candour 
and indiscretion. 

Philosophy has had notable students also in 
Ferrier, Caird, and Clifford. James Frederick 
Ferrier, who was a nephew of Susan Ferrier the 1808-1864 
author of " Marriage," was professor of moral 
philosophy at St. Andrews. He wrote " Lectures 
in Greek Philosophy " and other works. Edward 
169 



Sixty Years of 

1835- Caird is master of Balliol, and he has written 
" Philosophy of Kant," " Essays on Literature 
and Philosophy," and "The Evolution of 

1845-1879 Religion." William Kingdon Clifford belonged 
to the opposite camp. He obtained an early 
reputation as a mathematician and became 
professor of applied mathematics in University 
College, London, in 1871. His powerful con- 
tributions to the literary side of science were 
contained in " Seeing and Thinking " and 
"Lectures and Essays," the latter volume being 
edited after his death by his friends Mr. Leslie 
Stephen and Sir Frederick Pollock. 

The three most notable books that we have 
seen from the anti-theological side, apart from 
Matthew Arnold's "Literature and Dogma," are 
"The Creed of Christendom," "Phases of Faith," 
and "Supernatural Religion," although to these 
may perhaps be added translations of the Lives of 
Christ, of Strauss, and of Renan. The " Creed of 
Christendom " was the work of William Rathbone 

1809-1881 Greg, who wrote also "Enigmas of Life" (1872), 
and " Rocks Ahead " (1874).- " Phases of Faith " 

1805- was the work of Francis William Newman, a 
younger brother of Cardinal Newman, but at the 
opposite pole of religious conviction. He has 
written many books, the most successful being one 
on "The Soul" (1849). Another on "Theism " 

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Victorian Literature 

(1858), was inspired by the same theistic, but 
non- Christian impulse. " Phases of Faith " (1858), 
was his most successful work. The author of 
" Supernatural Religion " is Walter Richard 
Cassels, who has also published a reply to 
Bishop Lightfoot's strictures upon his larger 
work — a work now all but forgotten, but which 
created a considerable sensation at the time of its 
appearance. 

The age has been, particularly in its later de- 
velopments, an age of good critics of literature. 
Criticism unhappily rarely lasts much beyond its 
own decade. Even Mr. Matthew Arnold lives 
now only by his poetry, and the many good 
things that he said about books are being steadily 
forgotten. Arnold was a great critic, and so also 
was Walter Pater, whose "Marius the Epicurean " 1839-1894 
and " Imaginary Portraits " should have ranked 
him with writers of imagination were it not that 
criticism was his dominant faculty. Pater has 
been described as "the most rhythmical of 
English prose writers," and his "Renaissance: 
Studies in Art and Poetry," and his "Appreci- 
ations " give him a very high place among the 
writers of our time. 

Philip Gilbert Hamerton was another great 1834-1894 

critic, who wrote at least one work of imagination. 

" Marmorne " is a very pretty story of life in 

France. With every aspect of French life Mr. 

171 



Sixty Years of 

Hamerton was well acquainted, as he lived in 
that country for very many years. He wrote regu- 
larly upon art topics, and edited an art magazine, 
The Portfolio ; but it is by his volume of essays 
entitled "The Intellectual Life" that he will be 
most kindly remembered for many a year to come. 

Certain writers whom I must mention are en- 
titled to a place both as critics and as poets. 
Mr. W. E. Henley, Mr. F. W. H. Myers, 
William Bell Scott, and William Allingham for 

1849- example. William Ernest Henley has written 
plays in conjunction with R. L. Stevenson, and 
his "Book of Verses" and "Song of the Sword" 
entitle him to very high rank among the poets 
of the day. But he is also a critic of exceptional 
vigour and force, and since Matthew Arnold there 
has been no volume of criticism so full of dis- 
crimination and sound judgment as "Views and 
Reviews." Ill health has compelled Mr. Henley 
to waste much of his undoubted talent. He is 
at present editing fine library editions of Burns 

1843- and Byron. Frederic William Henry Myers 
wrote " Saint Paul," a poem of considerable 
reputation, but his critical essays are more widely 
known. They were published in two volumes, 
" Classical " and " Modern," and are full of delight- 
ful ideas delightfully expressed. His biography of 
Wordsworth is a daintily fanciful memoir, abound- 

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Victorian Literature 

ing in good criticism. Mr. Myers's brother Ernest 
is also a poet, and so also was William Bell Scott. 1811-1890 
He was, it is true, a poet of a narrow range, 
but a critic of great energy and industry. Bell 
Scott became best known by his " Autobiography " 
published after his death. In it he discussed 
Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite movement with 
sufficient frankness. William Allingham wrote 1824-1889 
many poems and ballads full of the Celtic spirit, 
and of Ireland, which he loved as the land of his 
birth. Allingham was for a time editor of Eraser's 
Magazine, and he contributed regularly to the chief 
literary periodicals of his day. 

Literary critics of importance to-day are Edward 
Dowden, Richard Garnett, George Saintsbury, 
Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen, and Andrew Lang 
— all of whom are happily living and writing. 

Edward Dowden, who is an Irishman, and a 1843- 
professor of Trinity College, Dublin, has a genius 
for accuracy and is a master of detail. For textual 
criticism of Wordsworth and Shelley he has no 
superior. He has an immense knowledge of the 
literature of many languages, and holds without 
dispute the first place among living students of 
German literature in this country. His knowledge 
of English literature is profound, and in " Shaks- 
pere, his Mind and Art," and " Studies in Litera- 
ture," he has said some singularly illuminating 

173 



Sixty Years of 

things about books. With his " Life of Shelley " 
one observes a certain deterioration; Professor 
Dowden, with all his profound love of literature, 
has scarcely the qualities which would find attrac- 
tion in the curiously impulsive character of the 
poet Shelley. Dowden was happier when writing 
about Southey, and he is still more at home with 
great impersonal literary figures like Shakspere 
and Goethe. 

1835- Richard Garnett — better known to the world 

to-day as Dr. Garnett — has also written on Shelley, 
not merely with sympathy but with partisanship. 
Dr. Garnett, who is honourably associated with 
the British Museum Library, is a most acute critic, 
a biographer of Carlyle and Emerson, a translator 
from the Greek and German, and, like Professor 
Dowden, a poet. 

1845- George Saintsbury, who is Professor of English 

Literature at the University of Edinburgh, has been 
an industrious critic for many years, and his know- 
ledge of French literature in particular is profound. 
His acquaintance with English literature in the 
seventeenth century has, however, considerably 
vitiated his style. It is not easy to tolerate the 
phraseology of the seventeenth century in modern 
books. This defect of style is regrettably notice- 
able in two volumes of literary history which Pro- 

174 



Victorian Literature 

fessor Saintsbury has published, one dealing with 
the seventeenth and the other with the nineteenth 
century. It is in certain brief biographies of Sir 
Walter Scott and others that Professor Saintsbury 
is most excellent ; but his wide knowledge and his 
genuine grasp of the most salient characteristics of 
good literature are indisputable qualities which 
rank him high among the bookmen of his day. 

Edmund Gosse is not less distinguished than the 1849- 
writers I have named. He would be widely 
known as a writer of charming verse were he not 
actively engaged in literary criticism. The son of 
a famous naturalist, Mr. Gosse is the author of 
many admirably written books about the literature 
of the past and the present. What Carlyle so 
largely did for German literature by introducing 
it to English readers Mr. Gosse has done for 
Scandinavian literature. In conjunction with Mr. 
William Archer — a dramatic critic of singular 
insight — he has translated Ibsen, whose influence 
has been as marked during the past ten years as 
the influence of German writers was marked during 
the previous thirty. Mr. Gosse's best biography 
is his " Life of Gray." 

A critic of remarkable learning is Leslie Stephen, 1832- 
whose "Hours in a Library" and "History of 
English Thought in the Eighteenth Century " are 

175 



Sixty Years of 

books which have profoundly impressed the age. 
Mr. Leslie Stephen has written a large number of 
biographies, all of them characterised by singular 
accuracy, by remarkable graces of style, and by 
genuine insight. He was the first editor of the 
Dictionary of National Biography, a work which 
has proved invaluable to students of our later 
literature. 

1844- Andrew Lang is the last of the critics I have 

named, and not the least active. He has shone in 
many branches of literary work. His "Ballads 
and Lyrics of Old France," " Ballades in Blue 
China," and numerous other verses, have gained 
him considerable reputation as a poet. His trans- 
lations of Homer and Theocritus are by many 
counted the finest translations that our literature 
has seen. Some have contended that his musical 
prose rendering of the Odyssey is incomparably 
superior to all the efforts of Pope, of Cowper, and 
of the many other poets who have attempted to 
render Homer in verse. Mr. Lang is an authority 
on folk-lore ; he has joined issue with Professor 
Max Muller on many points which are of keen 
interest to those who are attracted towards the 
science of language and the study of com- 
parative religion. As a writer of fairy-tales, 
and as the editor of books of fairy-stories, 
Mr. Lang has endeared himself to thousands 

176 



Victorian Literature 

belonging to the younger generation. But all this 
is but dimly and inefficiently to appraise Mr. Lang's 
marvellous versatility. He has written fiction, 
history, and, above all, biography, his biographical 
work including a Life of Sir Stafford Northcote 
and a Life of John Gibson Lockhart, Scott's 
son-in-law. 

Biography has generally been written by literary 
critics, and one requires no apology in any 
case for ranking the biographers among the 
critics. John Gibson Lockhart himself was ai794-i854 
notable example. He was editor of the Quarterly 
Review, and an industrious writer for many years ; 
but he is best known to us by his " Life of Sir 
Walter Scott," which was published — it is worthy 
of note — in 183 7, the year of the Queen's acces- 
sion. Lockhart's " Scott " is beyond question the 
most important biography of the reign. The 
longest is that of Milton by Professor Masson. 
David Masson has held a chair of literature in 1822- 
University College, London, and later at Edin- 
burgh. Few men know English literature better 
than he. His name will always be associated with 
his monumental Life of Milton, a solid, accurate, 
exhaustive book ; but he has written pleasantly on 
" British Novelists and their Styles " and " Drum- 
mond of Hawthornden," besides sundry other 
books. Many of our poets have had capable 
M I77 



Sixty Years of 

biographers. Professor Knight of St. Andrews has 
devoted himself for many years to Wordsworth, 
and has written his biography besides editing 
his collected works. The late James Dykes 
Campbell (i 835-1 894) wrote a biography of 
Coleridge distinguished by remarkable thorough- 
ness. Professor W. J. Courthope has proved 
himself Pope's best biographer and editor, and is 
giving us a good " History of English Poetry " 
which at present reaches only to the Reformation. 
Mr. Churton Collins, one of the most thorough of 
our critics, has written on Swift, as has also Sir 
Henry Craik ; and Swift's life in Ireland has been 
gracefully sketched by Mr. Richard Ashe King, a 
novelist whose " Love the Debt " and " The Wear- 
ing of the Green " have commanded a large audi- 
ence. Swift has been a favourite subject with the 
biographers. A life of him was the task upon which 
1812-1876 John Forster was engaged at the time of his death. 
Forster was an untiring biographer, and he bene- 
fited literature as well by his death as by his life, in 
that he bequeathed his fine library of books and 
manuscripts to the nation. John Forster wrote a 
Life of Walter Savage Landor, another of Gold- 
smith, and another of Charles Dickens, against 
which it was urged that he had introduced too 
much of his own personality. Perhaps Forster's 
best work was his "Life of Sir John Eliot," an 
expansion of a biography of that patriot which he 

178 



Victorian Literature 

had contributed to his " Statesmen of the Common- 
wealth." 

Biography is the great medium of instruction 
and inspiration of that little band of Positive 
philosophers who accept their gospel from 
Auguste Comte, whose " Philosophic Positive " 
they have translated into English. " Study the 
' Philosophic Positive ' for yourself," says George 
Henry Lewes, who, with George Eliot, had much 
enthusiasm for the new cult ; " study it patiently, 
give it the time and thought you would not grudge 
to a new science or a new language ; and then, 
whether you accept or reject the system, you will 
find your mental horizon irrevocably enlarged. 
' But six stout volumes ! ' exclaims the hesitating 
aspirant : Well, yes ; six volumes requiring to be 
meditated as well as read. I admit that they ' give 
pause ' in this busy bustling life of ours ; but if 
you reflect how willingly six separate volumes of 
philosophy would be read in the course of the year 
the undertaking seems less formidable. No one 
who considers the immense importance of a 
doctrine which will give unity to his life, would 
hesitate to pay a higher price than that of a year's 
study." Among the most gifted of the Positivists 
is Frederic Harrison, whose " Order and Progress," 1831- 
and " Choice of Books," are well known. Among 
his companions in literary and religious warfare 
179 



Sixty Years of 

1831-1888 have been James Cotter Morison, who wrote 
biographies of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Mac- 
aulay, " The Service of Man/' which was a con- 
tribution to religious propaganda; and Richard 
Congreve (born 181 8), who was a pupil of Dr. 
Arnold at Rugby, and who has written many 
thoughtful political tracts. 

An attempt to popularise Comte by an abridg- 
ment of his great work was made by Harriet 

1802-1876 Martineau, who was born at Norwich, and was 
one of the most versatile of Victorian writers. 
None of her work has stood the test of time, 
perhaps because she had so little of real genius, 
although possessed undoubtedly of great intellec- 
tual endowments. Not the less readily should 
we recognise that she exercised considerable in- 
fluence upon her own generation. She wrote 
many stories dealing with social subjects, and 
tales illustrative of Political Economy, which dis- 
persed many a popular illusion. In a visit to 
America she learned to sympathise with the 
Northern States, and perhaps no writer of the 
day did so much in England to excite sympathy 
with the cause which ultimately proved victorious. 
Miss Martineau's " Biographical Sketches " were 
originally published in the Daily News, a journal 
to which she was for many years a regular con- 
tributor, and for which she wrote her own obituary 
notice. Her historical work is mere compilation, 

180 



Victorian Literature 

destitute alike of originality and thoroughness, and 
the greater part of her other work has proved to be 
ephemeral. Such tales, however, as " Deerbrook " 
and " The Hour and the Man " have still admiring 
readers. The publication of her " Letters on the 
Laws of Man's Nature and Development" (185 1) 
excited much controversy, although her fearless 
honesty won the respect even of her opponents. 
A writer who distinguished himself most notably 
at one period by a combination of antagonism to 
Supernatural Christianity, and a gift for writing 
biography, was John Morley. Mr. Morley was 1838- 
born at Blackburn, and educated at Cheltenham 
and at Lincoln College, Oxford. Much of his 
work was done in journalism; he edited in suc- 
cession the Morning Star, the Literary Gazette, 
the Fortnightly Review, the Pall Mall Gazette, 
and Macmillan's Magazine. He resigned the 
editorship of the Pall Mall Gazette in 1883, 
when he entered Parliament as member for 
Newcastle- on-Tyne, and he gave up his post on 
Macmillart s Magazine on entering a Liberal 
Cabinet in 1886. He still edits the " English Men 
of Letters Series," a remarkable collection of 
handy biographies, for which he wrote a " Life 
of Burke." His literary achievement, apart from 
his essays, is entirely biographical, but it was 
of enormous influence upon the intellectual 
development of thoughtful young men at the 

181 



Sixty Years of 

Universities during the seventies and eighties. He 
has written lives of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot, 
which throw much light on the period prior to 
the French Revolution, and give abundant evi- 
dence that, had he not devoted himself to politics 
he would have been able to produce a history of 
the French Revolution of inestimable value. On 
the other hand his " Life of Cobden " was a failure 
from a literary standpoint. The essay " On Com- 
promise " is a most interesting development of 
the fundamental idea of Milton's " Areopagitica," 
and is probably the most exhaustive treatment of 
the question — how far we are justified in keeping 
back the expression of our opinions in deference to 
the views and customs of our fellow-men. 

Another good biographer who gave up to Par- 
liament time which might have been better em- 
ployed, from the point of view of a lover of letters, 
1838- is Sir George Otto Trevelyan, whose life of his 
uncle, Lord Macaulay, is a delightful biography, 
full of entertainment for the most frivolous of 
readers. Not less entertaining is Sir George 
Trevelyan's " Early History of Charles James Fox " 
(1880), a book which makes one wish that the 
writer had devoted himself to that epoch of our 
history, and had done for the period of the Georges 
what his uncle had done for their immediate 
predecessors. 



182 



Victorian Literature 

Lord Houghton wrote poetry as Richard 1809-1885 
Monckton Mimes, and his lines are still fre- 
quently quoted. But his biography of Keats — 
"Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John 
Keats " (1848), although not now in any publisher's 
list, is certain to be long remembered. Lord 
Houghton's life was written by his friend, Sir 
Wemyss Reid, author also of a " Monograph on 
Charlotte Bronte." His son, after serving as Lord- 
Lieutenant of Ireland, became Earl of Crewe \ his 
daughter, Florence Henniker, keeps alive the 
literary tradition of the family, and is known as a 
writer of short stories. Lord Houghton had a 
genuine love of letters and of the society of literary 
men. So also had Henry Crabb Robinson, whose 1775-1867 
diary edited by Dr. Sadler (1869) brings one in 
touch with all the literary men and women of the 
period. At his house in Russell Square Robinson 
gave breakfasts, to which it became a distinction 
to be invited. Samuel Rogers's breakfasts have 1 763-1 855 
been described in many memoirs. Rogers wrote 
all his poems long years before the Queen began 
to reign, but he lived for another thirty years with 
the reputation of a good conversationalist and 
story-teller. His " Table Talk" was published in 
1856, and it is full of good stories. Two valu- 
able books concerning Rogers have been written 
by Mr. Peter William Clayden, "Early Life of 

183 



Sixty Years of 

Samuel Rogers," and "Rogers and His Con- 
temporaries." 

An important biography was written by James 
1810-1881 Spedding, whose whole life was devoted to a 
study of Bacon, and to a thorough destruction of 
Macaulay's criticism upon the great philosopher. 
The " Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon, 
including all his Occasional Works, newly col- 
lected and set forth, with a Commentary Bio- 
graphical and Historical," was published in seven 
volumes between 1857 and 1874. 

Two of the most notable political philosophers 
of the era were George Cornewall Lewis and 

1806-1863 Bagehot. Sir George Lewis held important 
posts in the Governments of his day, being at 
one time Home Secretary and at another Secre- 
tary of State for War. He wrote " A Dialogue 
on the Best Form of Government " and many 

1826-1877 other treatises. Walter Bagehot was one of the 
greatest authorities of his day on banking and 
finance. He wrote " Physics and Politics," 
" Economic Studies," and several other works 
which have little relation to literature; but 
his " Literary Studies " indicated a critical ac- 
quaintance with the best books. A brilliant 
publicist of our day who combines like Bagehot 
a love of affairs with keen literary instincts is 

184 



Victorian Literature 

Goldwin Smith, who has made his home in 1823- 
Toronto, Canada, for many years now, but who 
was once intimately associated with Oxford Uni- 
versity. Goldwin Smith has written many books 
and pamphlets, one on " The Relations between 
England and America," another on "The Political 
Destiny of Canada," and he has written a short 
biography of Cowper. 

The most famous traveller of the reign and one 
of our greatest men of letters was George Borrow, 1803-1881 
who went to Spain as an agent of the British 
and Foreign Bible Society. Hence his " Bible in 
Spain," which has become one of the most popular 
books in our language as it is one of the most 
fascinating. It was first published in 1843 under 
the title "The Bible in Spain, or Journeys, 
Adventures, and Imprisonments of an English- 
man in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in 
the Peninsula." "Lavengro" (185 1) and "The 
Romany Rye" (1857) have enjoyed almost an 
equal popularity with "The Bible in Spain." 

Herman Melville (1 819-189 1) was an Ameri- 
can citizen, and his work, therefore, does not 
come within the scope of this volume. I am the 
more sorry for this, that I consider Melville's 
name is entitled to rank with that of George 
Borrow as one of the two travellers during the 

185 



Sixty Years of 

epoch whose books make literature. It is small 
disparagement to the majority of our great travel- 
lers that they have not been men of letters, that 
their books, although serviceable to their genera- 
tion, are of little moment considered from the 
standpoint of art. Although Mr. H. M. Stanley, 
Dr. Nansen, and other adventurous spirits of our 
time, may be quite as important in the general 
drift of the world's doings as any of the literary 
men whose names are contained in this volume, 
their books have no place whatever in literature. 
It is noteworthy, however, that books written by 
travellers have been, during the past ten years 
or more, by far the most popular form of reading, 
apart from fiction. Interest in historical study 
and speculative writing seems to have declined; 
interest in travel is as marked as ever. 

The journalism of the reign has been so inti- 
mately associated with literature that were my 
space more ample I should have chosen to devote 
a chapter to that subject alone. Many of the men 
I have mentioned, perhaps most of them, have at 
one time or another contributed to the journals or 
magazines of the day. Even the novelists have a 
peculiar interest in journalism, because of late 
years as large a proportion of their pecuniary 
reward has come from what is called serial 
publication in this or that magazine or newspaper 

186 



Victorian Literature 

as from book publication. Apart from fiction, 
access to magazines and newspapers has become, 
if it has not always been, an easy and pleasant way 
of making oneself heard upon the subject nearest 
to one's heart. Literary journalists who have 
afterwards republished their contributions in 
volume form include Sydney Smith and John 
Wilson at the beginning of the reign; as 
also Douglas Jerrold, Mark Lemon, Edmund 
Yates, Charles Mackay, and George Augustus 
Sala. Sydney Smith left nothing that we can 1771-1845 
read to day. He lives as a pleasant memory. We 
know that he must have been a liberal-minded, as 
he was certainly a very witty clergyman. He wrote 
on "The Ballot" in 1837 and on "The Church 
Bills" in 1838, and he went on writing zealously 
until his death. " The Wit and Wisdom of Sydney 
Smith " was published in 1861. John Wilson has 1785- 1854 
a more purely literary record. As editor of Black- 
wood's Magazine, he made that publication a power 
in the land. His "Recreations of Christopher 
North" appeared in 1842. Many of his essays 
and sketches may still be read with real pleasure, 
and indeed his influence will be very much alive 
for many a year to come. Douglas Jerrold is also 1803-1857 
well known to-day by his " Black-eyed Susan " 
and " Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures." His son, 
Blanchard Jerrold (1826-1884), wrote his life. 
Mark Lemon was one of the first editors of Punch 1809-1870 

187 



Sixty Years of 

newspaper. His hundreds of articles and many 
novels are all well nigh forgotten, but his name will 
always receive honourable mention in the history 

1831-1894 of journalism. Edmund Yates, who founded The 
World newspaper in 1874, will be remembered by 
his well written "Autobiography" — one of the 
best books of the kind ever issued. Yates wrote 
many novels, but they have all passed out of 

1814-1889 memory. Charles Mackay was an active journal- 
ist for a number of years. He wrote novels, poems, 
and criticisms, and an entertaining autobiography 
entitled " Forty Years' Recollections of Life, Litera- 
ture, and Public Affairs." Dr. Mackay was father 
of Eric Mackay, author of "Love Letters of a 
Violinist," and stepfather of Miss Marie Corelli 

1 828- 1 895 the novelist. George Augustus Sala, who wrote 
so continuously for the Daily Telegraph and other 
journals, was also author of many books as well 
as the inevitable autobiography. "The Land of 
the Golden Fleece," "America Revisited," and 
"Living London" are well known. Richard 

1848-1887 Jefferies published his "Gamekeeper at Home" 
in the Pall Mall Gazette. " Wood Magic " ( 1 88 1 ) , 
"Bevis" (1882), and "The Story of My Heart" 
(1883), are his best books. 

These names suggest a hundred others. The 

most honoured journalist of to-day is Frederick 

1830- Greenwood, who has edited The Cornhill 



Victorian Literature 

Magazine and more than one newspaper. He 
has written poems, stories, and essays, his 
"Lover's Lexicon" and "Dreams" being two 
of his latest volumes. 

Another editor of The Cornhill Magazine, James 
Payn, has written many successful novels, of which 1830- 
" Lost Sir Massingberd "(1864) and " By Proxy " 
(1878) are perhaps the most popular. Mr. Payn's 
many accomplishments, his delightful humour and 
gift of genial anecdote, have endeared him to a 
wide circle. 

A journalist of equal distinction was Richard 
Holt Hutton, the editor of the Spectator, who in 1826-1897 
that journal maintained for thirty-five years the 
high-water mark of dignified and independent 
criticism, in an age in which the extensive inter- 
course of authors and critics, the constant com- 
munication between the writers of books and 
the writers for newspapers, has made independent 
criticism a difficult, and, indeed, almost im- 
possible achievement. Mr. Hutton wrote many 
books, two of the most notable being "Essays 
Literary and Speculative," which were full of 
thoughtful and discerning estimates of the works 
of Wordsworth, George Eliot, and other writers. 

Memoirs abound in the epoch, although we 
are mainly indebted to translations. AmiePs 
"Journal," translated by Mrs. Humphry Ward, 
189 



Sixty Years of 

" Marie Bashkirtseff's Diary," translated by 
Mathilde Blind, reflect one side of this literary 
taste ; while the thousand and one memoirs con- 
cerning Napoleon I. represents another. The 
most popular series of political memoirs in 
English we owed to Charles Cavendish Fulke 
1794-1865 Greville, who became Clerk to the Privy Council 
in 1 82 1, and held that post until i860. After 
his death his diary was edited by Mr. Henry 
Reeve. The first series of the "Greville Me- 
moirs " dealing with the reign of George IV. and 
William IV., appeared in 1875 and created im- 
mense excitement. 1 The later volumes excited 
less interest. 

"The Life of the late Prince Consort " (1874) by 

1816- Sir Theodore Martin, naturally contained no 

indiscretions, although it did much to enhance, 

if that were possible, kindly memories of the 

Queen's husband. Sir Theodore Martin made 

1 A contemporary epigram thus expressed the general 
feeling : 

" For fifty years he listened at the door, 
And heard some scandal, but invented more. 
This he wrote down ; and statesmen, queens, and kings, 
Appear before us quite as common things. 
Most now are dead ; yet some few still remain 
To whom these ' Memoirs ' give a needless pain ; 
For though they laugh, and say ' 'T is only Greville,' 
They wish him and his ' Memoirs ' at the D — 1." 

I9O 



Victorian Literature 

his first fame under the pseudonym of Bon 
Gaultier. His " Book of Ballads," written in con- 
junction with Professor Aytoun, had much suc- 
cess. Sir Theodore Martin also wrote Aytoun's 
"Memoir" (1867) and "The Life of Lord 
Lyndhurst" (1883). He has translated the Odes 
of Horace, " The Vita Nuova " of Dante, Goethe's 
" Faust," and Heine's " Poems and Ballads." In 
1885 he published a "Sketch of the Life of 
Princess Alice." 

It is difficult to know where to place Sir Arthur 
Helps, who wrote plays, novels, histories, and 1817-1875 
essays. He was an overrated writer in his time. 
He is perhaps underrated now. Two series of 
"Friends in Council" appeared, the first in 1847, 
the second in 1859. They dealt with all manner 
of abstract subjects such as "war," "despotism," 
and so on, and were very popular. Another 
volume, "Companions of my Solitude," was 
equally successful. Helps was rash enough to 
enter into competition with Prescott in treating 
of the Spanish Conquest of America; but the 
picturesque books of the earlier writer are still 
with us, while Helps's "Life of Pizarro " (1869) 
and " Life of Cortes " (1871) are almost forgotten. 
That also is the fate of his romance, " Realmah " 
(1868), and of his tragedies, " Catherine Douglas " 
and " Henry II." Sir Arthur Helps was Clerk to 

191 



Sixty Years of 

the Privy Council, and he edited the " Principal 
Speeches and Addresses of the late Prince Con- 
sort" (1862). 

1819- Sir Arthur Helps also edited for Queen Victoria 

her " Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the 
Highlands" (1868). The Queen has also pub- 
lished " The Early Days of His Royal Highness 
the Prince Consort "(1867), and " More Leaves from 
the Journal of our Life in the Highlands " (1884). 
Her Majesty has been credited with a genuine 
taste for letters, and a love for good poetry and 
good fiction. With some show of authority it 
has been stated that her favourite novelists are 
Sir Walter Scott, Miss Austen, and Miss Bronte ; 
while it is quite evident to the least inquisitive that 
many literary theologians have had some measure 
of her regard. Happily the times have long 
passed when literature needed the patronage of 
the powerful. To-day it can honourably stand 
alone. But it is pleasing to remember that the 
sovereign whose sixty years of rule make so re- 
markable a record in literature, as in many other 
aspects of the world's progress, has taken a sym- 
pathetic interest in the books and bookmen of the 
epoch. 

The Queen will have seen reputations blaze 
forth and flicker out ignominiously ; she will have 

192 



Victorian Literature 

seen many a writer hailed for immortal to-day 
and forgotten to-morrow. She will have seen, 
however, a succession of writers, Browning and 
Tennyson, Carlyle and Ruskin, most notable of 
all, who in their impulse towards high ideals 
of human brotherhood, in their enthusiasm of 
humanity, have given us a literature without a 
parallel in history ; and she will not be without a 
sense of gratification that that literature will go 
down the ages bearing the name of Victorian. 



193 



INDEX 



Abbott, Edwin. Distinguished 
member of broad church party, 
' Philochristus ' and ' Onesi- 
mus ' ; his ' Through Nature to 
Christ' perhaps the best evi- 
dence of the development of his 
party, 165. 

Abbott, Evelyn, 163. 

' Adam Bede,' 49. 

'Addresses and Reviews,' 158. 

' Admiral's Daughter, The,' 71. 

'Adventures of Harrv Richmond, 
The,' 61. 

' Agnes Grey,' 47, 48. 

' Agriculture and Prices, History 
of,' 144. 

' A Hard Struggle,' 38. 

Ainsworth, W. H. 'Old St. 
Paul's,' 'The Tower of Lon- 
don,' and 'Rookwood' his 
best novels, 6y. 

' Alec Forbes of Howglen,' 63. 

Alexander, Mrs. (Mrs. Hector), 74. 

' Alexander the Great,' 33. 

' Alice's Adventures in Wonder- 
land,' 64. 

Allen, Grant. ' Anglo-Saxon 
Britain,' 99. 

' All in All,' 39. 

Allingham, William. Writer of 
Celtic and Irish poems and bal- 
lads ; edited Preiser's Magazine, 

173- 
' All Sorts and Conditions of Men,' 

65. 

*9S 



All the Year Round, 69. 

A. L. O. E. (Miss Charlotte Maria 
Tucker), most popular stories, 
' Pride and his Pursuers,' ' Exiles 
in Babylon,' ' House Beautiful,' 
and ' Cyril Ashley,' 73. 

' Alton Locke,' 53. 

' America Revisited,' 188. 

' Amiel's Journal,' 189. 

'And Shall Trelawney Die/ 38. 

' Angel in the House, The,' 31, 

' Anglo-Saxon Britain,' 99. 

'Animal Intelligence,' 157. 

' Ann Sherwood,' 72. 

' Annals of the Parish,' 63. 

' Anthony Hope,' 63. 

' Anthropology ' (Tylor's), 99. 

' Antiquity of Man, The,' 1 53. 

Anti-theological books. The three 
most notable, 170. 

' Apologia pro Vita Sua,' no. 

'Appreciations,' 171. 

Aristotle's ' Politics,' Jowett's 
translation, 163. 

Arnold, Dr. ' Plistory of Rome,' 
102. 

Arnold,Matthew,and Wordsworth, 
8 ; poetic gifts of, first recog- 
nised by Swinburne ; ' Litera- 
ture and Dogma ' ; ' God and 
the Bible ' ; a product of the 
broad church movement ; in- 
fluence on contemporary re- 
ligious thought, 18; professor 
of poetry ; ' Essays in Criti- 



Index 



cism ' ; definition o£ criticism ; 
educational work, 19; best 
known by his poetry, 19, 20, 171 ; 
' Empedocles on Etna ' ; ' The 
Strayed Reveller ' ; ' Poems,' 
20 ; ' Thyrsis/ 21 ; admiration 
for Emily Bronte, 47. 

Arnold, Sir Edwin. 'Light of 
Asia ' and ' Light of the World,' 
26 ; on Henry Kingsley, 56. 

Arnold, Thomas. At Rugby; Dr. 
Hawkins' recommendation ; his 
methods; ' Thucydides ' ; 'His- 
tory of Rome ' ; a purifying in- 
fluence, 160; at first unpopular; 
reaction in his favour ; his best 
known pupils, 161. 

Ashley, Professor W. J. ' Econo- 
mic History and Theory/ 144. 

Athenceum, The, and "Tupper's 
1 Proverbial Philosophy,' 27. 

Aunt Judy 's Magazine, 73. 

'Aurora Leigh/ 14. 

Austen, Jane, anticipated Dickens 
with Rev. Mr. Collins, 43, 49. 

Austin, Alfred. Laureate, 39 ; 
' The Golden Age ' ; ' Savona- 

. rola'; ' English Lyrics/ etc., 40. 

'Autobiography of W. B. Scott/ 

173- . 

'Autobiography ' (Mills). 138, 142. 
'Autobiography' (Yates), 188. 
'Ave atque Vale/ 17. 
' Ayrshire Legatees/ 63. 
Aytoun, Professor, 191. 

Bagehot, Walter. A great author- 
ity on banking and finance ; 
' Physics and Politics ' ; ' Econo- 
mic Studies/ 184; 'Literary 
Studies,' 184. 

Bailey, Philip James; wrote 
'Festus/ 28. 



I96 



Bain, Alexander. Assisted Mill in 
his ' Logic ' ; ' The Senses and 
the Intellect'; 'The Emotions 
and the Will ' ; ' Mental and 
Moral Science ' ; his best-known 
work; his style heavy and un- 
attractive, 147. 

Balfour, Francis Maitland, 151. 

' Ballades in Blue China,' 30, 176. 

' Ballads and Lyrics of Old France/ 
176. 

' Ballads for the Times/ 27. 

' Ballot, The/ 187. 

Banim, John, 34. 

' Barchester Towers/ 58. 

Barham, Richard Harris. 'In- 
goldsby Legends' first appeared 
in Bentley^s Miscellany ; his 
novel, ' My Cousin Nicholas/ 
forgotten, 30. 

' Barnaby Rudge/ 42. 

Barnes, William. Philologist and 
poet ; author of ' Poems of Rural 
Life in the Dorset Dialect/ yj. 

' Barrack-Room Ballads/ 40. 

Barrie, J. M. 'A Window in 
Thrums/ written before he had 
read Dr. MacDonald's books; 
probably influenced by John 
Gait, 63. 

Barry Cornwall, 35-36. 

Beagle, The, 154. 

' Beau Austin/ 60. 

' Beauchamp's Career/ 61. 

Beddoes, Thomas Lovell, author 
of ' The Bride's Tragedy ' and 
' Death's Jest Book/ 36. 

Bell, Currer, Ellis, and Acton, 47, 
48. 

Bentham, Jeremy, 137. 

Bentinck, Lord George. Bio- 
graphy of, by Lord Beaconsfield, 
57- 



Index 



Bentley, Robert, 151. 

Bentley's Miscellany and ' In- 
goldsby Legends,' 30. 

Besant, Sir Walter. 'All Sorts 
and Conditions of Men ' has had 
a practical influence ; collabora- 
tion with James Rice ; ' Ready- 
Money Mortiboy ' ; ' The Golden 
Butterfly,' 65. 

' Bevis,' 188. 

'Bible Inspiration,' 168. 

'Biographical History of Philos- 
ophy,' 148-149. 

'Biographical Sketches/ 1S0. 

' Black but Comely,' 59. 

Black, William. First appearance 
as a novelist in ' Love or Mar- 
riage,' 68 ; real characterisation 
in ' A Daughter of Heth ' and 
' Madcap Violet ' ; ' Macleod of 
Dare ' perhaps his best book, 
69. 

'Black-eyed Susan/ 187. 

Blackmore, Richard Doddridge. 
'Lorna Doone,' received coldly 
at first ; an unexcelled master of 
rustic comedy ; ' The Maid of 
Sker ' ; ' Christowell ' ; ' Cripps 
the Carrier/ 69. 

Blackwood's Magazine, 49, 70, 74, 
187. 

'Blessed Damozel, The/ 23. 

Blind, Mathilde. Translated 
' Marie Bashkirtseff's Diary,' 
190. 

' Blot in the 'Scutcheon, A/ 12. 

'Book of Ballads' (Martin and 
Aytoun), 191. 

' Book of Verses/ 172. 

Boole. Logic and mathematics, 
147. 

Booth, Charles. ' Life and Labour 
of the People/ 144-145. 



' Borderers, The/ 9. 

Borrow, George. The most famous 
traveller of the reign ; his ' Bible 
in Spain ' one of the most popu- 
lar books in our language ; 
'Lavengro' and 'The Romany 
Rye' almost equally popular, 
185. 

'Botanic Garden, The/ 154. 

Braddon, Miss, 74. 

Bradley, Professor A. C. Editor 
of Green's ' Prolegomena/ and 
author of ' Ethical Studies/ 14S. 

Brewer, Rev. John Sherren. Chief 
work a ' Calendar of Letters and 
Papers, Foreign and Domestic, 
of the Reign of Henry VIII.,' 
88 ; ' The Reign of Henry 
VIII./ 89. 

Brewster, Sir David. The first 
writer of the era to popularise 
science ; founder of Edinburgh 
Cyclop cedia ; his ' Life of New- 
ton/ ' Martyrs of Science/ 
and ' More Worlds than One ' 
still widely read, 150. 

' Bride's Tragedy, The/ 36. 

Bridgewater Treatises, 153. 

Bright, James Franck, 97 ; ' Eng- 
lish History for the use of Public 
Schools/ 97. 

' British Novelists and their Styles/ 
177. 

Broad church party, manifesto of, 
162. 

Bronte, Anne. ' Poems ' ; ' Agnes 
Grey,' 47 ; ' The Tenant of 
Wildfell Hall/ 48. 

Bronte, Charlotte. Mrs. Gaskell's 
life of, 71. 

Bronte, Charlotte. Early years, 
46; Brussels ; ' Poems ' ; ' The 
Professor ' ; ' Jane Eyre ' ; ' Shir- 



I97 



Index 



ley'; 'Villette'; marriage and 
death, 47. 

Bronte, Emily. ' Poems ' ; 

' Wuthering Heights ' ; ' Last 
Lines ' ; ' The Old Stoic/ 47 ; 
Swinburne's criticism of 
' Wuthering Heights,' 48. 

Brooke, Stopford Augustus. Se- 
cession from the Church of 
England ; his ' Primer of Eng- 
lish Literature,' ' History of 
Early English Poetry/ 'Theo- 
logy in the English Poets,' and 
' Life of Milton ' have the ring 
of the great critic, 166. 

Broughton, Miss Rhoda, 74. 

Browne, Hablot, 45. 

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. 
Appreciation of, and marriage 
with, Robert Browning, 13; 
not in the least incomprehen- 
sible ; ' Cry of the Children ' ; 
' Cowper's Grave ' ; ' Aurora 
Leigh ' ; ' Sonnets from the 
Portuguese ' ; her opinion of 
' Aurora Leigh ' ; ' Casa Guidi 
Windows'; death, 14. 

Browning, Robert. Friendship 
with Tennyson ; social traits, 
11; superb characterisation; 
charge of obscurity ; half his 
work not obscure ; ' The Ring 
and the Book ' ; ' Men and 
Women ' ; and ' Dramatic 
Idylls ' ; exciting stories ; 
4 Luria ' ; 'In a Balcony ' ; and 
' A Blot in the 'Scutcheon ' ; as 
readable as railway novels ; his 
small audience, 12; 'Pauline'; 
hard fight for recognition ; 
Elizabeth Barrett's apprecia- 
tion ; marriage, 13-14. 

Bryce, James. * The Holy Roman 



parliamentary life, 

Frank. Author of 
1 Natural History,' 



I98 



Empire 
104. 

Buckland, 
books ( 
153- 

Buckland, William. Author of 
'Geology and Mineralogy con- 
sidered with reference to Natural 
Theology/ 153. 

Buckle, Henry Thomas. ' History 
of Civilization in England ' ; 
defects of, 103. 

Burney, Fanny, 49. 

Burton, John Hill. ' History of 
Scotland from the Invasion of 
Agricola to the Revolution of 
1688/ 96. 

' By Proxy/ 189. 

Byron, death of, 5; attitude to- 
wards Wordsworth, 8. 

Caird, Edward. ' Philosophy of 
Kant'-; 'Essays on Literature 
and Philosophy ' ; ' The Evolu- 
tion of Religion/ 170. 

Cairnes, John Elliott, 143. 

* Calendar of Letters and Papers of 
the Reign of Henry VIII., A/88. 

' Calendar of Spanish State Papers 
of Elizabeth/ 89. 

'Called to be Saints/ 22. 

' Callista ; a Sketch of the Third 
Century/ ill. 

Calverley, Charles Stuart. One of 
the most famous successors of 
Hood and Barham ; wrote ' Fly 
Leaves ' and ' Verses and Trans- 
lations/ 30. 

Campbell, James Dykes. Bio- 
grapher of Coleridge, 178. 

Campbell, Lewis, 163. 

Carleton, William. ' Traits and 
Stories of the Irish Peasantry ' ; 



Index 



'Tales of Ireland' ; 'Fardorougha 
the Miser ' ; ' Black Prophet/ 66. 
Carlyle, Thomas. Birth ; educa- 
tion ; his father's influence, 112 ; 
as tutor; biographer; Madame 
de Stael's influence, 113; ven- 
eration for Goethe, 113- 114, 
120-121; ' Wilhelm Meister'; 
' Faust ' ; ' Life of Schiller/ 1 13 ; 
marriage ; Emerson's visit to ; 
Jean Paul Richter's influence ; 
literary work in London, 114; 
death, 115; personal character, 
1 1 5-1 18; domestic relations, 
1 1 5-1 18; address from his con- 
temporaries, 115; Froude's 
' Letters ' and ' Reminiscences/ 
1 1 5-1 16; Sir Henry Taylor's 
opinion of; Longfellow's ap- 
preciation, 116; Emerson's 
account of domestic relations, 
116; Carlyle and his wife, 116- 
119; his influence, 118-119, 
128 ; intentions respecting 
'Reminiscences/ 1 19-120; pre- 
judices ; love for Emerson, 
Tennyson, Ruskin, 120; ' Sartor 
Resartus ' ; Fraser^s Magazine, 
121 ; influence of his teaching 
on younger minds, 122-123; 
' Past and Present ' ; ' Latter- 
day Pamphlets ' ; John Stuart 
Mill; Governor Eyre and 
Jamaica riots, 123 ; ' Heroes 
and Hero-Worship'; 'French 
Revolution ' ; ' Cromwell ' ; 

' Frederick II. of Prussia ' ; 
his place in literature ; ' Schiller ' 
criticised ; ' Life of John Ster- 
ling/ 124; not too well en- 
dowed with literary insight ; 
Mill on the ' French Revolu- 
tion,' 125; Carlyle's deductions 



endorsed by John Morley; his 
' Cromwell ' ; his ' Frederick 
II.,' 126-7; his enormous per- 
sonality, 127-8; Edinburgh 
Cyclopedia, 1 50 ; contempt for 
Darwinian hypothesis, 156. 

Carrol], Lewis. The best writer 
of children's stories; pseudonym 
of Rev. Charles Lutwidge 
Dodgson; 'Euclid and his 
Modern Rivals ' ; 'A Tangled 
Tale'; 'Alice's Adventures in 
Wonderland ' ; ' Through the 
Looking-glass/ 64. 

'Casa Guidi Windows,' 14. 

Cassels, Walter Richard. Author 
of ' Supernatural Religion/ 171. 

'Catherine Douglas/ 191. 

' Cave-hunting/ 99. 

'Caxtons, The/ 56. 

Cellini's 'Autobiography* (Sy- 
monds'), 104. 

Celtic Renaissance, The, and 
Thomas Moore, 23- 

' Cervantes/ 74. 

Challenger Expedition, The, 155. 

' Channings, The/ 71. 

Chapman, Dr., 49. 

Charles, Mrs. Author of 'The 
Schonberg Cotta Family' and 
' Kitty Trevelyan's Diary/ 73. 

' Charles O'Malley/ 66. 

Charlesworth, Maria Louisa. 
Author of 'Ministering Chil- 
dren/ 73. 

' Chartist Parson, The/ 53. 

Chartist poets, 37. 

' Childhood of Religion/ 99. 

* Childhood of the World/ 99. 

' Child's Garden of Verses, A/ 60. 

' Chips from a German Work- 
shop/ 99. 

'Choice of Books/ 179. 



199 



Index 



' Choir Invisible, The/ 50. 

'Christian Evidences/ 160. 

Christianity, Supernatural, and 
Froude, Emerson, and New- 
man, 49. 

'Christian Year, The/ 159. 

' Christowell/ 69. 

' Church Bills, The/ 187. 

Church, Richard William. Author 
of works on Dante and St. 
Anselm, belonged to the Liberal 
High Church School, 167. 

' Cithara/ 27. 

' City of Dreadful Night, The/ 32. 

' Civilisation, History of/ 103. 

' Clarissa/ 41. 

' Classical ' essays, 172. 

Clayden, Peter William, 183; 
' Early Life of Samuel Rogers ' 
and ' Rogers and His Contem- 
poraries/ 184. 

Clifford, Mrs. W. K., 74. 

Clive, Mrs. Archer. Author of 
' Paul Ferrell/ 72. 

Clodd, Edward. 'Childhood of 
the World ' ; ' Childhood of Re- 
ligion ' ; ' Pioneers of Evolution/ 
99. 

' Cloister and the Hearth, The/ 
S 8. 

Clough, Arthur Hugh, 21 ; 
Lowell's estimate of; a pupil 
of Dr. Arnold ; ' The Bothie of 
Tober-na-Vuolich'; death, 21. 

Colenso, John William. Author 
of mathematical text-books ; 
Bishop of Natal ; zealous pro- 
tector of the natives ; ' The 
Pentateuch and Book of Joshua 
Critically Examined ' ; con- 
demned as heretical ; inhibited 
from preaching, 164; sermon 
read at Balliol and London ; 



invited to the Abbey pulpit, 
165. 

Coleridge, death of, 5 ; on ' Thai- 
aba/ 6; Dykes Campbell's 
biography of, 178. 

Coleridge, Hartley, 35. 

Coleridge, Sara, and Southey, 7 ; 
' Phantasmion/ 35. 

Collet, Miss Clara, 144. 

Collins, J. Churton. A thorough 
critic; a writer on Swift, 178. 

Collins, William Wilkie. The 
most prominent exponent of the 
sensational school; immediate 
success of ' The Woman in 
White/ ' The Moonstone/ and 
' The New Magdalen/ 69 ; but 
the vogue now almost over, 70. 

'Companions of my Solitude/ 191. 

Comte, Auguste, and the ' Philos- 
ophic Positive/ 179. 

Congreve, Richard. A writer of 
thoughtful political tracts, 180. 

' Coningsby/ 57. 

' Conquest of England, The/ 98. 

'Considerations on Representa- 
tive Government/ 140. 

'Constitutional History* (Hal- 
lam's), 78. 

'Constitutional History' (May's), 
80. 

' Constitutional History '(Stubbs'), 

79- 

Conybeare, Rev. W. J., 168. 

Cook, Eliza. Her claims to con- 
sideration ; ' The Old Arm- 
chair ' ; the Journal, 29. 

Cooper, Thomas. Chartist poet, 
wrote ' The Purgatory of Sui- 
cides/ &c, 37. 

'Coral Reefs/ structure and dis- 
tribution of, 155. 

Corelli, Miss Marie, 74. 



200 



Index 



Cornhill Magazine, The, 45, 93, 

*33- 
• Corn Law Rhymes,' 37. 
'Count Cagliostro,' 125. 
' Count Julian/ 15. 
Courthope,Professor W.J. Pope's 

best biographer and editor ; 

4 History of English Poetry/ 

178. 
' Courtships of Queen Elizabeth, 

The/ 89. 
Cowper, 6. 
' Cowper's grave/ 14. 
Cox, Sir George. ' Mythology of 

the Aryan Nations ; ' ' History 

of Greece,' 100. 
Craik, Mrs., 72. 
Craik, Sir Henry. A writer on 

Swift, 178. 
' Cranford/ 71. 

' Creed of Christendom, The/ 170. 
Creighton, Mandell. ' History of 

the Papacy from the Great 

Schism to the Sack of Rome/ 

103. 
Crewe, Earl of, 183. 
' Cripps the Carrier/ 69. 
Critics of the Era — 

Abbott, Dr. E., 165. 

Allingham, W., 173. 

Arnold, Dr., 160. 

Arnold, M., 171. 

Ashley, Professor W. J., 144. 

Bagehot, W., 184. 

Bain, A., 147. 

Bentley, R., 151. 

Booth, C, 144. 

Borrow, G., 185. 

Bradley, Professor A. C, 148. 

Brewster, Sir D., 150. 

Brooke, S. A., 166. 

Buckland, Dean, 153. 

Buckland, F., 153. 

20 



Critics of the Era {continued) — 

Caird, E., 170. 

Cairnes, J. E., 143. 

Campbell, J. D., 17S. 

Cassels, W. R., 171. 

Church, R. W., 167. 

Clayden, P. W., 183. 

Clifford, W. K., 170. 

Colenso, J. W., 164. 

Collet, Miss C, 144. 

Collins, C, 178. 

Congreve, R., 180. 

Conybeare, Rev. W. J., 168. 

Courthope, Professor W. J., 
178. 

Craik, Sir H., 178. 

Cunningham, Dr., 144. 

Darwin, C, 153. 

Dowden, E., 173. 

Faraday, M., 150. 

Farrar, F. W., 168. 

Fawcett, H., 142. 

Ferrier, J. F., 169. 

Forster, J., 178. 

Foster, M., 151. 

Garnett, Dr., 174. 

Geikie, Sir A., 153. 

Geikie, J., 153. 

Gosse, E., 175. 

Green, T. H., 147. 

Greenwood, F., 188. 

Greg, W. R., 170. 

Greville, C. C. F., 190. 

Hamerton, P. G., 171. 

Harrison, F., 179. 

Helps, Sir A., 191. 

Henley, W. E., 172. 

Hooker, Sir J., 151. 

Houghton, Lord, 183. 

Howson, J. S., 168. 

Hutton, R. H, 189. 

Huxley, T. H., 157. 

Jefferies, R., 188. 
I 



Index 



Critics of the Era {continued) - 
Jerrold, D., 187. 
Jevons, W. S., 143. 
Jovvett, B., 162. 
Keble, J., 159. 
King, R. A., 178. 
Knight, Professor, 178. 
Lang, A., 176. 
Lemon, M., 187. 
Leslie, T. E. C, 144. 
Lewes, G. H., 148. 
Lewis, Sir G. C, 184. 
Liddon, H. P., 167. 
Lightfoot, J. B., 168. 
Lockhart, J. G., 177. 
Lyell, Sir C, 152. 
Lvnch, T. T., 166. 
Mackay, C, 188. 
Manning, Cardinal, 169. 
Mansel, H. L., 169. 
Marshall, A., 143. 
Martin, Sir T., 190. 
Martineau, Dr. J., 166. 
Martineau, Miss, 180. 
Masson, D., 177 
Maurice, J. F. D., 163. 
Mill, J. S., 137. 
Miller, H., 151. 
Mivart, St. G., 151. 
Morison, J. C, 180. 
Morley, J., 181. 
Murchison, Sir R., 152. 
Murray, Dr. J., 155. 
Myers, F. W. H., 172. 
Newman, F. W., 170. 
Pater, W., 171. 
Pattison, M., 163. 
Payn, J., 189. 
Potter, Miss B., 144-5. 
Pusey, E. B., 158. 
Reid, Sir W., 183. 
Robertson, F. W., 165. 
Robinson, H. C, 183. 



Critics of the Era {continued) — ■ 

Rogers, S., 183. 

Rogers, T., 144. 

Romanes, G. J., 156. 

Ruskin, J., 129. 

Ryle, J. C, 168. 

Saintsbury, G., 174. 

Sala, G. A., 188. 

Sanderson, B., 151. 

Schloss, D. F., 144. 

Scott, W. B., 173. 

Sidgwick, H., 143.. 

Smith, G., 185. 

Smith, H. L., 144. 

Smith, S., 187. 

Spedding, J., 184. 

Spencer, H., 145. 

Spurgeon, C. H., 168. 

Stanley, A. P., 161. 

Stephen, L., 175. 

Stewart, B., 151. 

Temple, Dr., 162. 

Toynbee, A., 144. 

Trevelyan, Sir G. O., 182. 

Tyndall, 150. 

Victoria, Q., 192. 

Wallace, A. R., 156. 

Whately, R., 159. 

Wilson, J., 187. 

Yates, E., 188. 
'Critiques and Addresses,' 158. 
' Cromwell/ 124, 125, 126. 
Cromwell's Place in History,' 90. 
Cross, J. W., 50. 
Cross, Mrs. (George Eliot), 50. 
8 Crotchet Castle,' 62. 
Crowe, Mrs. Author of ' Susan 

Hopley ' and 'The Night Side 

of Nature,' 71-72. 
' Crown of Wild Olive/ 135. 
' Cry of the Children,' 14. 
Cunningham, Dr., 'Growth of Eng- 
lish History and Commerce/144. 
202 



Index 



* Curiosities of Literature/ 57. 
' Cyril Ashley/ 73. 

Daily Telegraph, The, 188. 

' Daniel Deronda/ 50. 

' Dante and His Circle,' 23. 

Darwin, Charles. His death a 
world-wide loss, 153; 'Our 
Century is Darwin's Century ' ; 
early reception of his theory; 
Bishop Wilberforce in the Quar- 
terly Review ; his antecedents ; 
education ; Professor Henslow ; 
Beagle expedition, 154; 'Jour- 
nals of Researches,' republished 
as 'A Naturalist's Voyage Round 
the World ' ; continued his in- 
vestigations at Down ; his sons ; 
' Structure and Distribution of 
Coral Reefs ' ; a revolutionary 
work ; the theory now somewhat 
modified ; the theory of evolu- 
tion; contemporaneous discov- 
ery with Dr. Wallace ; ' Origin 
of Species ' ; ' Descent of Man ' ; 
'Earth Worms/ 156; the hypo- 
thesis now generally accepted ; 
popular interpretators, 157. 

Darwin, Erasmus, 154. 

Darwin, Francis, 155. 

Darwin, George Howard, 155. 

' Daughter of Heth,' A, 68. 

' David Copperfield ' and Thack- 
eray, 44. 

' David Elginbrod/ 60. 

Davis, Thomas. Wrote ' National 
and Historical Ballads, Songs 
and Poems,' 34. 

Dawkins, William Boyd, 98 ; 
' Cave-hunting ' ; ' Early Man in 
Britain,' 99. 

' Death of Marlowe, The/ 36. 

' Death's Jest Book/ 36. 



' Deerbrook/ 181. 

' Defence of Guenevere/ 25. 

1 Deformed, The/ 71. 

De Morgan, Logic and Mathe- 
matics, 147. 

De Quincey's opinion of ' Count 
Julian/ 15. 

'Descent of Man/ 156. 

'Descriptive Sociology/ 146. 

De Vere, Thomas Aubrey. Wrote 
' The Waldenses/ ' Alexander 
the Great/ ' St. Thomas of Can- 
terbury/ and a volume of critical 
essays, &c, 33. 

' Dialogue on the best form of 
Government, A/ 184. 
Diamond Necklace, The,' 125. 

' Diana of the Crossways,' 61. 

Dickens, Charles. Literary equip- 
ment of, 41 ; achieved immediate 
fame with his first great book ; 
birth; Dickens senior and 
' Micawber ' ; the Morning 
Chronicle ; ' Boz ' ; the Monthly 
Magazine ; ' Pickwick ' ; ' Oliver 
Twist ' ; ' Nicholas Nickleby ' ; 
' The Old Curiosity Shop ' ; 
' Barnaby Rudge ' ; the most 
popular writer our literature 
has seen, 42 ; criticisms, 43 ; 
Thackeray's enthusiasm, 44. 

Dickens, Forster's Life of, 178. 

Dictionary of National Biography, 
176. 

Disraeli, Benjamin. 'Vivian Grey ' 
' The Young Duke ' ; ' Venetia ' 
'Henrietta Temple'; 'Con 
ingsby ' ; ' Tancred ' ; ' Sybil ' 
Biography of Lord George Ben 
tinck, 57. 

DTsraeli, Isaac. ' Curiosities of 
Literature/ 57. 

'Dissertations and Discussions/140. 



203 



Index 



Dobell, Sydney, 31 ; admiration 
of Emily Bronte, 47. 

Dobson, Austin. One of the most 
famous successors of Hood and 
Barham ; wrote ' Vignettes in 
Rhyme ' ; ' Proverbs in Porce- 
lain/ Sec, 30. 

' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde/ 60. 

' Dr. Thorne/ 58. 

Dodgson, Rev. C. L.,- 64. 

Dowden, Edward. Professor at 
Trinity College, Dublin; for 
textual criticism of Wordsworth 
and Shelley has no superior; 
first place among living students 
of German literature in this 
country ; ' Shakspere, his Mind 
and Art ' ; ' Studies in Litera- 
ture/ 173; 'Life of Shelley'; 
at home with great impersonal 
literary figures like Shakspere 
and Goethe, 174. 

Doyle, Conan, 63. 

'Dramatic Idylls/ 12. 

' Dramatic Scenes/ 36. 

' Dream of Eugene Aram/ 29. 

'Dream of Gerontius/ in. 

' Dream of John Ball/ 24. 

'Dreams/ 189. 

' Dress/ 74. 

'Drink/ 58. 

' Drummond of Hawthornden/ 

J 77; 
Dublin University Magazine, 66. 
Dufferin, Lady, 34. 

' Early Days of His Royal High- 
ness the Prince Consort/ 162. 

' Early History of Charles James 
Fox/ 182. 

' Early Italian Poets, The/ 23. 

'Early Life of Samuel Rogers/ 



' Early Man in Britain/ 99. 

' Earthly Paradise, The/ 25. 

' Earth Worms/ 1 56. 

' East Lynne/ 71. 

' Ecce Homo/ 105. 

' Ecclesiastical Sonnets/ 9. 

'Economic History and Theory/ 
144. 

' Economics of Industry/ 143. 

' Economic Studies/ 184. 

Edgeworth, Maria, 49. 

Edinburgh Cyclopcedia and Car- 
lyle, 150. 

Edinburgh Review and Macaulay, 
91. 

' Education/ 145. 

'Education of the World, The/ 
162. 

' Egoist, The,' 61. 

' Eirenicon/ 158. 

' Elements of Politics/ 143. 

Eliot, George. Early years ; 
Strauss's 'Life of Jesus'; West- 
minster Review ; George Henry 
Lewes ; ' Scenes of Clerical 
Life'; ' Adam Bede/ 49; 'The 
Mill on the Floss ' ; ' Silas Mar- 
ner ' ; ' Romola ' ; ' Felix Holt ' ; 
' Middlemarch ' ; ' Daniel De- 
ronda ' ; marriage ; death ; her 
letters a disappointment; her 
poetry ; ' Spanish Gipsy' ; ' Choir 
Invisible ' ; ' by her novels she 
must be judged/ 50; catholicity 
of sympathy, 51-52; has not 
maintained her position, but has 
an assured place, 53. 

Eliot, George, and Spencer, 145. 

Eliza Cook^s Journal, 29. 

Elliott, Ebenezer. Author of 
' Corn Law Rhymes/ &c, 37. 

Emerson, R. W., and George Eliot, 
49. 



2O4 



Index 



'Emotions and the Will, The/ 
147. 

* Empedocles on Etna/ 20. 

' Endeavour after the Christian 

Life/ 167. 
1 English History and Commerce, 

Growth of/ 144. 
' English History for the Use of 

Public Schools/ 97. 
1 English in Ireland, The/ 88. 
■ English Lyrics/ 40. 
'English Men of Letters Series/ 

181. 
1 English Seamen in the Sixteenth 

Century/ 88. 
' Englishwomen of Letters/ 72. 
' Enigmas of Life/ 1 70. 
' Eothen/ 96. 
'Epic of Hades/ 26. 
'Epic of Women and other 

Poems/ 39. 
' Esmond/ 45. 
' Essay in Aid of the Grammar of 

Assent/ in. 
' Essay on Ritualism/ 106. 
'Essays and Reviews/ 162. 
'Essays and Studies/ 17. 
' Essays/ by T. E. C. Leslie, 144. 
'Essays in Criticism/ 19. 
' Essays, Literary and Speculative/ 

189. 
' Essays on Literature and Philos- 
ophy/ 170. 
' Essays on Unsettled Questions in 

Political Economy/ 140. 
'Ethical Studies/ 148. 
' Euclid and his Modern Rivals/ 

64. 
' European Morals from Augustus 

to Charlemagne/ 96. 
' Evan Harrington/ 61. 
Evans, Mary Ann (George Eliot), 

49-53- 

20 



' Evolution of Religion, The/ 170. 

Ewing, Mrs. Author of ' Remem- 
brances of Mrs. Overtheway, '73. 

' Examination of Sir William 
Hamilton's Philosophy/ 140. 

' Excursion, The/ 9. 

' Exiles in Babylon/ 73. 

'Expansion of England, The/ 
105. 

' Face of the Deep, The/ 22. 

Faraday, Michael. Famous physic- 
ist ; Royal Institution, Lectures; 
1 Magneto-electricity ' ; devotion 
to science, 150. 

' Faraday as a Discoverer/ 15I0 

' Fardorougha the Miser,' 66. 

'Far from the Madding Crowd/ 
68. 

' Farina/ 61. 

Farrar, Frederick William. As 
headmaster of Marlborough Col- 
lege ; wrote stories of boy life ; 
succeeded Kingsley as Canon of 
Westminster ; sermons on the 
doctrine of eternal punishment ; 
lives of Christ and St. Paul 
widely read, 168. 

' Faust ' (Martin's translation), 
191. 

Fawcett, Henry. A disciple of 
the Ricardo school ; ' Manual of 
Political Economy/ 142-143; 
a critic of Indian finance ; Post- 
master-General, 143. 

' Felix Holt,' 50. 

Ferguson, Sir Samuel, 34. 

Ferrier, James Frederick. Pro- 
fessor of moral philosophy at 
St. Andrews ; ' Lectures in Greek 
Philosophy/ 169. 

' Festus/ 27, 28. 

Fielding, 41. 

5 



Index 



Finlay, George. ' A History of 
Greece from its Conquest by the 
Romans to the Present Time ' ; 
GreekWar of Independence,i02. 

' First Principles ' ( Spencers), 145. 

Fitzgerald, Edward. ' Letters and 
Literary Remains ' and ' Omar 
Khayyam/ 35. 

' Fly-Leaves,' 30. 

' Footprints of Former Men on Far 
Cornwall/ 38. 

' Footprints of the Creator/ 152. 

' Fors Clavigera/ 133-134. 

Forster, John. ' Life of Swift ' ; 
' Life of Walter Savage Landor' ; 
' Goldsmith ' ; ' Dickens ' ; * Life 
of Sir John Eliot' ; ' Statesmen 
of the Commonwealth/ 179. 

Fortnightly Review, 93, 181. 

'Forty Years' Recollections of Life, 
Literature and Public Affairs/ 
188. 

Foster, Michael, 151. 

' Foul Play/ 58. 

Fox, Charles James, and ' Madoc/ 
6 ; * Early History of/ 182. 

' Framley Parsonage/ 58. 

' Frank Mildmay/ 67. 

Fraser's Magazine, 45, 173. 

' Frederick II. of Prussia/ 124-125, 
126. 

Freeman, Edward A. First work, 
' A History of Architecture ' ; 
'History of Federal Govern- 
ment ' ; ' History of the Norman 
Conquest'; ' Reign of William 
Rufus and Accession of Henry 
I.' ; his ' Old English History/ 
a delightful collection of stories 
of primitive history, 81 ; a keen 
grasp of hard facts, but not a 
metaphysician ; contempt of 
literary discussion ; the ' Nor- 



206 



man Conquest/ worth the effort 
of reading it ; Regius Professor 
at Oxford, 82; contrasted with 
Froude, 83. 

' French Revolution/ 124, 125. 

' Frenchwomen of Letters/ 72. 

'Friends in Council/ 191. 

Froude, James Anthony. Con- 
trasted with Freeman ; aban- 
doned supernatural Christianity, 
83 ; ' The Spirit's Trials ' ; ' The 
Lieutenant's Daughter'; 'Nem- 
esis of Faith ' ; his great work, 
'The History of England from 
the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat 
of the Spanish Armada ' ; its 
popularity in many respects well 
deserved, 84 ; the later volumes 
of greater worth than the earlier ; 
his literary style exquisite, and 
his sympathies generally broad, 
85; the 'A Becket ' articles in- 
accurate ; his ' Life of Carlyle ' ; 
Sir Fitz James Stephen's defence 
of the 'Life/ 86-87; 'Short 
Studies on Great Subjects/ and 
Fraser's Magazine ; ' Life of 
Bunyan ' ; ' Life of Caesar ' j 
Carlyle's influence in ' The Eng- 
lish in Ireland ' ; ' Lectures on 
the Council of Trent '; English 
Seamen in the Sixteenth Cen- 
tury ' ; ' Life and Letters of 
Erasmus/ 88. 

Froude, J. A., and George Eliot, 
49. 

Froude, Richard Hurrell. ' Literary 
Remains of/ 83. 

Fullerton.LadyGeorgiana. Author 
of ' Ann Sherwood/ 72. 

Gairdner, James. ' Life and 
Reign of Richard HI./ 96. 



Index 



* Gamekeeper at Home, The,' 188. 

Gardiner, Samuel Rawson. The 
Historian of the Stuart kings ; 
his whole life devoted to the 
work ; already published, ' The 
History of England from the 
Accession of James I. to the 
Outbreak of the Civil War, 
1603-1642,' now well into the 
study of the Protectorate, 89 ; 
minor works, ' The Gunpowder 
Plot ' ; ' Cromwell's Place in 
History' ; not a brilliant writer, 
but absolutely fair and impar- 
tial ; his books the safest guide 
to the period, 90. 

Garnett, Richard (Doctor), and 
Marston, 38 ; a partisan of 
Shelley; an acute critic, 174. 

1 Gaskell, Mrs. ' Mary Barton ' 
her first success; ' Ruth/ 
' North and South,' ' Sylvia's 
Lovers,' 'Cranford,' and 'The 
Life of Charlotte Bronte ' her 
most enduring works, 71. 

Gatty, Mrs., 73. 

' Gebir,' 1 5. 

Geikie, James. ' The Great Ice 
Age,' 153. 

Geikie, Sir Archibald. His ' Text 
Book of Geology ' a model of 
lucid writing, 153. 

' Geoffrey Hamlyn,' 55. 

' Geology and Mineralogy con- 
sidered with reference to Nat- 
ural Theology,' 153. 

' Geology, Principles of (Lyell's), 
152. 

'Geology, Text Book of (Gei- 
kie's), 153. 

Geology, Treatises on, give fullest 
play to literary side of science, 
151. 

207 



Germ, The, 23. 

Gibbon's ' Rome,' Milman's edi- 
tion of, 102. 

' Glaciers, on the Structure and 
Motion of, 151. 

' Gladiators, The,' 59. 

Gladstone, William Ewart, and 
Macaulay, 93 ; ' The State in 
its Relations with the Church 'j 
Macaulay's Review ; ' Essay on 
Ritualism'; and ' The Vatican 
Decrees ' ; ' Studies in Homer' ; 
' Gleanings ' ; on Cardinal New- 
man's influence, 106; on New- 
man's secession, 106-107. 

'Gleanings' (W. E. Gladstone), 
106. 

' Goblin Market,' 22. 

'God and the Bible,' 18. 

' Golden Age, The,' 40. 

' Golden Butterfly, The,' 65. 

' Golden Treasury of Songs and 
Lyrics, The,' 81. 

Goldsmith, 41 ; Life of, 178. 

Gosse, Edmund. A writer of 
charming verse and an active 
literary critic; joint translator 
with Mr. Wm. Archer of Ibse7i, 
175 ; best biography, ' Life of 
Gray,' 175. 

c Government, A Dialogue on the 
best form of,' 184. 

'Government, On the Proper 
Sphere of,' 145. 

' Grammar of Assent,' ill. 

' Great Ice Age, The,' 153. 

'Greece, History of (Cox's), 100. 

' Greece, History of ' (Finlay's), 
102. 

'Greece, History of (Grote's), 
100, 101. 

' Greece, History of ' (Thirlwall's), 
101. 



Index 



Green, Alice Stopford. 'Town 
Life in the Fifteenth Century/ 
98. 

Green, John Richard. ' Short 
History of the English People ' ; 
place as an historian, 97 ; critics, 
97-98 : enlarged edition ; dedi- 
cation ; Bishop Stubbs and Pro- 
fessor Freeman ; ' The Making 
of England ' ; ' The Conquest of 
England ; SirArchibald Geikie's 
tribute ; adverse criticisms, 98. 

Green, Thomas Hill. Long a 
leader of the Hegelian phil- 
osophy at Oxford ; published 
through Contemporary Review 
articles on ' Mr. Herbert Spen- 
cer and Mr. G. H. Lewes : their 
Application of the Doctrine of 
Evolution to Thought,' 148 ; his 
' Prolegomena of Ethics,' finally 
edited by Professor Bradley; a 
moral force in Oxford apart 
from his philosophy, 148. 

Greenwood, Frederick. The most 
honoured journalist of to-day ; 
edited Comhill Magazine, 188; 
writer of poems, stories, and 
essays ; ' Lover's Lexicon ' ; 
' Dreams,' 189. 

Greg, William Rathbone. Anti- 
theological writer ; ' The Creed 
of Christendom ' ; ' Enigmas of 
Life' ; ' Rocks Ahead,' 170. 

Greville, Charles Cavendish 
Fulke. His political memoirs the 
most popular series we have,i90. 

' Greville Memoirs,' 190. 

{ Griffith Gaunt,' 58. 

Grote, George. Westminster Re- 
view, 100 ; M. P. for the City of 
London ; ' History of Greece ' ; 
Bishop Thirlwall's appreciation, 



208 



101 ; influence respecting views 
of Athenian democracy, 102. 

Grote and J. S. Mill, 139. 

' Growth of English History and 
Commerce,' 144. 

' Gryll Grange,' 63. 

' Gunpowder Plot, The,' 90. 

Hallam, Henry. 'View of the 
State of Europe during the 
Middle Ages,' 77; 'Constitu- 
tional History of England'; 
' Introduction to the Literature 
of Europe in the Fifteenth, Six- 
teenth, and Seventeenth Cen- 
turies/ 78. 

Hamerton, Philip Gilbert. Author 
of 'Marmorne/ 171 ; intimately 
acquainted with French life ; 
edited The Portfolio ;< The In- 
tellectual Life,' 172. 

' Hand and Soul/ 23. 

' Handy Andv/ 34. 

' Hard Cash/ 58. 

Hardy, Thomas. Earlier fame 
won with ' Far from the Mad- 
ding Crowd ' ; later popularity 
by ' Tess of the D'Urbervilles/ 
' The Return of the Native/ and 
' The Woodlanders ' greater 
than either, 68. 

' Harold/ 10, 56. 

Harrison, Frederic. A gifted 
Positivist ; ' Order and Pro- 
gress ' ; ' Choice of Books,' 179. 

' Harry Lorrequer/ 66. 

Hawker, Robert Stephen. Author 
of ' Song of the Western Men/ 
and ' Footprints of Former Men 
in Far Cornwall/ 38. 

' Headlong Hall/ 62. 

Heine's ' Poems and Ballads ' 
(Martin's translation), 191. 



Index 



Helps, Sir Arthur. ' Friends in 
Council ' ; ' Companions of my 
Solitude ' ; ' Life of Pizarro ' ; 
' Life of Cortes ' ; ' Realmah ' ; 
' Catherine Douglas ' ; ' Henry 
II.,' 191 ; edited ' Principal 
Speeches and Addresses of 
the late Prince Consort,' and 
'Leaves from a Journal,' 192. 

Henley, William Ernest. ' Book 
of Verses ' ; ' Song of the 
Sword ' ; a critic of exceptional 
vigour; 'Views and Reviews,' 
172. 

Henley, W. E., and Stevenson, 60. 

Hennell, Sarah, 49. 

Henniker, Florence, 183. 

'Henrietta Temple,' 57. 

'Henry 11./ 191. 

Henslow, Professor, 154. 

' Herodotus/ Sayce's edition of, 
100. 

' Heroes and Hero- Worship/ 
124-125. 

'High Tide on the Coast of Lin- 
colnshire/ 29. 

' Hillyars and the Burtons, The/ 

55- 
Historians of the Era — 
Allan, G., 99. 
Arnold, Dr., 102. 
Brewer, Rev. J. S., 88. 
Bright, J. B., 97. 
Bryce, J., 104. 
Buckle, H. T., 103. 
Burton, J. H, 96. 
Carlyle, T., 112. 
Clodd, E., 99. 
Cox, Sir G., 100. 
Creighton, M., 103. 
Dawkins, W. B., 98. 
Finlay, G., 102. 
Freeman, E. A., 81. 



O 



Historians of the TLra{continued) — 

Froude, J. A., 83. 

Gairdner, J., 96. 

Gardiner, S. R., 89. 

Gladstone, W. E., 105-106. 

Green, J. R., 97. 

Green, Mrs., 98. 

Grote, G., 100. 

Hallam, H., yy. 

Hume, Major M., 89. 

Kemble, J. M., 80. 

Kinglake, A. W., 96. 

Kitchin, G. W., 103. 

Lecky, W. E. H., 96. 

Lingard, J., 80. 

Lubbock, Sir J., 99. 

Macaulay, J. B., 91. 

MacCarthy, J., 95. 

Massey, W. M., 95. 

May, Sir T. E., 79. 

Merivale, C, 102. 

Milman, H. H., 102. 

Molesworth, Rev. W. N., 95. 

Miiller, F. M., 99. 

Napier, Sir Charles, 97. 

Newman, J. H., 107. 

Palgrave, Sir F., 81. 

Sayce, A. H., 100. 

Seeley, Sir J. R., 104. 

Stanhope, Earl, 95. 

Stubbs, W., 78. 

Symonds, J. A., 103. 

Thirlwall, C, 101. 

Tylor, E. B., 99. 
' History and Politics/ 104. 
' History of Agriculture and 

Prices' (Rogers), 144. 
' History of Christianity under 

the Empire' (Milman), 102. 
' History of Civilisation in Eng- 
land' (Buckle), 103. 
' History of Early English Poetry ? 

(Brooke), 166. 



209 



Index 



'History of Eighteenth Century 

Literature, A ' (Oliphant), 74. 
' History of England from the Fall 

of Wolsey to the Defeat of the 

SpanishArmada,The ' ( Froude), 

84, 85. 
' History of England from 1603- 

1642 ' (Gardiner), 89. 
' History of England from the 

Accession of James II.' (Mac- 

aulay), 92. 
' History of England from 17 13 to 

1783' (Earl Stanhope), 95. 
' History of England ' (Lingard), 

80. 
' History of England under George 

III.' (Massey), 95. 
'History of England, 1830-1873 ' 

(Molesworth), 95. 
'History of English Poetry' (Court- 
hope), 178. 
' History of English Thought in 

the Eighteenth Century ' 

(Stephen), 175. 
' History of Federal Government ' 

(Freeman), 81. 
1 History of France previous to 

the Revolution ' (Kitchin), 103. 
'History of Greece' (Cox), 10c. 
' History of Greece ' (Finlay), 102. 
' History of Greece ' (Grote), 100- 

102. 
'History of Greece' (Thirlwall), 

101. 

and 



' History of Normandy 

England' (Palgrave), 81. 
' History of Our Own Time, 1830- 

1897 (MacCarthy),95. 
' History of Rome ' (Arnold), 102, 

160. 
' History of Samuel Titmarsh and 

the Great Hoggarty Diamond, 

The,' 45. 

2 



' History of Scotland '(Burton), 96. 

' History of the Church of Eng- 
land ' (Molesworth), 95. 

' History of the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury ' (Lecky), 96. 

' History of the Four Georges ' 
(MacCarthy), 96. 

'History of the Jews' (Milman), 
102. 

' History of the Norman Con- 
quest ' (Freeman), 81. 

' History of the Papacy from the 
Great Schism to the Sack of 
Rome ' (Creighton), 103. 

' History of the Peace' (Martin- 
eau), 95. 

' History of the Romans under 
the Empire' (Merivale), 102. 

' History of the Reign of Queen 
Anne' (Stanhope), 95. 

' History of the War in the Crimea' 
(Kinglake), 96. 

' History of Trade Unionism, The ' 
(Webb), 145. 

' Holy Roman Empire, The,' 104. 

' Homer '(Lang's translation), 176. 

' Homer,' Studies in, 106. 

Hood, Thomas. ' Song of the 
Shirt ' and ' Dream of Eugene 
Aram ' most popular, 29. 

Hooker, Sir Joseph, 151. 

Home, Richard Hengist. Wrote 
' Orion,' ' Judas Iscariot,' ' The 
Death of Marlowe,' &c, 36. 

Houghton, Lord (Monckton 
Milnes). ' Life, Letters, and 
Literary Remains of John 
Keats,' his life written by Sir 
Wemyss Reid, 183. 

' Hour and the Man, The,' 181. 

' Hours in a Library,' 175. 

' Hours of Thought on Sacred 
Things,' 167. 

IO 



Index 



'House Beautiful,' 73. 

' House of Life, The,' 24. 

Howson, John Saul. Joint 
authorship with Rev. W. J. 
Conybeare of 'The Life and 
Epistles of St. Paul,' 168. 

Hughes, Thomas. A pupil of Dr. 
Arnold's ; finest boy's book in 
the language, ' Tom Brown's 
School Days,' 161. 

H ume, Ma j or Martin. ' The Year 
after the Armada ' ; ' The Court- 
ships of Queen Elizabeth ' ; 
' Calendar of Spanish State 
Papers of Elizabeth,' 89. 

' Humphry Clinker,' 41. 

Hunt, Holman, and the pre- 
Raphaelite Movement, 23. 

Hutton, Richard Holt. Editor of 
the Spectator ; a dignified and 
independent critic ; ' Essays, 
Literary and Speculative,' 189. 

Huxley, Thomas Henry. A pro- 
found metaphysician as well as 
a great scientist; early days; 
Rattlesnake Voyage ; Royal and 
Linnaean Society Papers ; Natu- 
ral History and Palaeontology 
Chairs, 157; Inspector of 
Fisheries ; President of the 
Royal Society; ' Physiography'; 
his ' Lay Sermons,' ' Addresses 
and Reviews,' ' Critiques and 
Addresses,' and ' American 
Addresses,' rank among the finest 
prose of our age, 158. 

'Hypatia,' 54. 

Ibsen. Gosse and Archer's trans- 
lations, 175. 
'Ice Age, The Great,' 152. 
' Idylls of the King, The,' 10. 
'Imaginary Conversations,' 16. 



'Imaginary Portraits/ 171. 
' In a Balcony/ 12. 
' In a Glass Darkly/ 66. 
'Industrial Revolution, The/ 144. 
Ingelow, Jean. Outlived her pop- 
ularity ; ' High Tide on the 

Coast of Lincolnshire' and 

' Supper at the Mill ' her most 

enduring work, 29. 
' Ingoldsby Legends,' 30. 
' In Memoriam,' 10. 
' Intellectual Life, The,' 172. 
' International Scientific Series ' 

and Spencer, 146. 
' Interpretation of Scripture, The/ 

163. 
' Irish Melodies/ 33. 
Irish Poets of the Era — 

Banim, 34. 

Davis, 34. 

Dufferin, Lady, 34. 

Ferguson, 34. 

Fitzgerald, 34. 

Lover, 34. 

Mangan, 34. 

Moore, 33. 

' Jackdaw of Rheims/ 30. 

James, G. P. R., 67. 

'Jane Eyre,' 46, 47. 

Jefferies, Richard. ' Gamekeeper 
at Home/ published in the Pall 
Mall Gazette ; ' Wood Magic ' ; 
' Bevis ' ; ' The Story of My 
Heart/ 188. 

Jerrold, Douglas. ' Black-eyed 
Susan ' ; ' Mrs. Caudle's Curtain 
Lectures ' ; Life, written by 
Blanchard Jerrold — his son, 187. 

Jesus, Strauss's Life of, 49. 

Jevons, William Stanley, 143. 

' John Halifax, Gentleman/ 72. 

' John Inglesant/ 64. 
I I 



Index 



'John Ploughman's Talk,' 168. 

Jones, Ebenezer. Wrote ' Studies 
in Sensation and Event/ y?. 

Journalism and Novelists, 186-7. 

' Journals of Researches during a 
Voyage round the World,' 154- 

Jowett, Benjamin, 162; 'The 
Interpretation of Scripture ' ; 
brilliant translations of Plato, 
Thucydides, and ' The Politics ' 
of Aristotle ; John Blight's ad- 
miration of Jowett's classic Eng- 
lish ; ' Life,' written by Evelyn 
Abbott and Lewis Campbell, 
163. 

' Judas Iscariot, 36. 

' Katerfelto,' 59. 

Kavanagh, Julia. Now little 
known. Wrote ' Madeleine,' 
'Women in France in the 18th 
Century,' ' Englishwomen of 
Letters,' and ' Frenchwomen 
of Letters,' 72. 

Keats, death of, 5. 

Keble, John. Professor of Poetry 
at Oxford ; ' Christian Year ' ; 
' Lyra Innocentium ' ; ' Life of 
Bishop Wilson,' 159. 

Kemble, John Mitchell. His 
' Saxons in England ' still use- 
ful, 80. 

King, Richard Ashe. Hassketched 
Swift's life in Ireland ; ' Love 
the Debt'; 'The Wearing of 
the Green,' 178. 

' Kingdom of Christ,' 164. 

Kinglake, Alexander William. 
' History of the War in the 
Crimea,' a brilliant effort ; his 
' Eothen ' scarcely less popular, 
96. 



Kingsley, Charles, 53-55. 'The 
Saint's Tragedy ' ; ' Alton 
Locke/ 53 ; ' Yeast ' ; ' Two 
Years Ago ' ; ' Hypatia ' ; ' West- 
ward Ho ' ; ' The Three Fishers'; 
' The Sands of Dee ' ; Professor 
of History at Cambridge ; his 
influence great and beneficial, 
54- 

Kingsley, Henry, 55-56. ' Geoffrey 
Hamlyn/ the best novel of Aus- 
tralian life; 'Ravenshoe,' and 
' The Hillyars and The Bur- 
tons ' forcible effective works, 
55 ; Sir Edwin Arnold and Mrs. 
Thackeray Ritchie's testimony, 
56. 

Kingston, W. H. G. Author of 
one hundred and twenty-five 
stories of the sea, 67. 

' King's Tragedy, The/ 24. 

Kipling, Rudyard. ' Soldiers 
Three ' ; ' Wee Willie Winkie ' ; 
' Barrack-Room Ballads/ 40. 

Kitchin, George William. ' His- 
tory of France previous to the 
Revolution,' 103. 

1 Kitty Trevelyan's Diary/ 73. 

Knight, Professor, of St. Andrews. 
Biographer of Wordsworth and 
editor of his collected works, 



' Lachryjvle Musarum/ 40. 

' Lady Geraldine's Courtship/ 13. 

c Lady of Lyons, The/ 56. 

'Lady's Walk, The/ 75. 

' Lalla Rookh/ 34. 

' Land of the Golden Fleece, The/ 
188. 

Landor, Walter Savage. Tem- 
perament ; ' Gebir ' ; ' Count 
Julian ' ; his poems command 
12 



^_^^___^__^_______ 







Index 



no audience to-day, 15;' Imagin- 
ary Conversations ' and ' Longer 
Prose Works' have all cultured 
men for readers now; Swin- 
burne's admiration of, 16. 

Landor and ' Madoc,' 6. 

Lang, Andrew. ' Ballads and 
Lyrics of Old France ' ; ' Bal- 
lades in Blue China ' ; translator 
of Homer and Theocritus ; his 
musical prose rendering of the 
Odyssey compared to Pope's and 
Cowper's efforts ; folk-lorist ; 
writer and editor of fairy tales, 
176; 'Life of Sir Stafford 
Northcote'; 'Life of John 
Gibson Lockhart/ 177. 

Lang, Andrew, and ' Ballades in 
Blue China,' 30. 

' Laocoon/ 74. 

' Laodamia,' 7. 

'Last Days of Pompeii, The,' 
56. 

' Last Lines, 47. 

\ Last of the Barons, The,' 56. 

• Latin Christianity,' 103. 

'Latter-day Pamphlets,' 123. 

Laureate, The present, 39-40. 

' Lavengro,' 185. 

'Lay Sermons,' 158. 

' Lead Kindly Light,' 108. 

' Leaves from a Journal,' 192. 

Lecky, William Edward Hartpole. 
His ' History of England in the 
Eighteenth Century' the most 
important work in the period 
subsequent to Macaulay's ; ' Rise 
and Influence of the Spirit of 
Rationalism ' and ' European 
Morals from Augustus to Charle- 
magne' justly popular, 96. 

'Lectures in Greek Philosophy/ 
169. 

21 



' Lectures on the Council of Trent, 
88. 

' Lectures on the Jewish Church, 
162. 

' Lectures on Science for Un- 
scientific People,' 151. 

' Lectures on the Eastern Church 
161-162. 

' Lectures on the Science of Lan- 
guage,' 99. 

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan 
' Uncle Silas ' ; ' In a Glass 
Darkly,' 66. 

' Legends and Lyrics,' 36. 

Lemon, Mark, 187. Editor of 
Punch, 188. 

Leslie, Thomas Edward Cliffe. 
His 'Essay' full of terse and 
suggestive criticism, 144. 

Lessing, 94. 

' Letters and Life of Francis 
Bacon' (Spedding), 184. 

' Letters ' and ' Reminiscences ' 
of Carlyle, 11 5-1 16, 1 19-120. 

' Letters on the Laws of Man's 
Nature and Development,' 181. 

'Letter to Keble/ 158. 

Lever, Charles. Dublin Univer- 
sity Magazine ; ' Charles O'Mal- 
ley ' and ' Harry Lorrequer ' 
still command attention, 66. 

Lewes, George Henry. One of 
the most versatile writers of our 
time ; first important work 
' Biographical History of Philos- 
ophy/ 148 ; the only work of 
the kind of any pretension ; his 
'Life of Goethe' the standard 
work; 'Ranthorpe'; edited 
Fortnightly Review; 'Seaside 
Studies'; 'Problems of Life and 
Mind/ 149; ' Philosophie Posi- 
tive/ 179. 

3 



Index 



Lewes, G. H., and the 'Philos- 
ophic Positive,' 179. 

Lewes, George Henry, and George 
Eliot, 49. 

Lewis, Sir George Cornewall. A 
notable political philosopher; 
wrote ' A Dialogue on the Best 
Form of Government,' 184. 

' Liberty,' 139. 

Liddon, Henry Parry. Bampton 
lectures ' On the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ ' ; one of the most 
eloquent of modern preachers, 
167. 

' Lieutenant's Daughter, 84. 

' Life and Death of Jason/ 25. 

' Life and Epistles of St. Paul, The/ 
168. 

' Life and Letters of Erasmus/ 88. 

' Life and Reign of Richard III./ 
96. 

' Life and Times of Stein/ 104. 

* Life, Letters and Literary Re- 
mains of John Keats/ 183. 

' Life of Bishop Wilson/ 159. 

' Life of Bunyan/ 88. 

' Life of Burke/ 181. 

' Life of Byron/ 34. 

' Life of Caesar/ 88. 

' Life of Cardinal Manning/ 169. 

' Life of Carlyle/ 86. 

'Life of Charlotte Bronte, The/ 

'Life of Christ,' 168. 

1 Life of Cicero/ 58. 

' Life of Cobden/ 182. 

' Life of Cortes/ 191. 

' Life of Cowper/ 6. 

' Life of Dickens/ 178. 

' Life of Dr. Arnold/ 161, 162. 

' Life of Edward Irving/ 74. 

' Life of F. W. Robertson/ 166. 

' Life of Goethe/ 149. 



' Life of Gray/ 175. 

' Life of Hume/ 158. 

' Life of Isaac Casaubon/ 163. 

' Life of Jesus/ 49. 

' Life of John Gibson Lockhart/ 

177. 
' Life of John Stirling/ 124. 
' Life of Jowett,' 163. 
' Life of Lord Lyndhurst, The/ 

191. 
' Life of Lord Macaulay/ 182. 
' Life of Milton/ 166. 
' Life of Milton/ 177. 
' Life of Nelson' (Mahan's), 6. 
' Life of Nelson ' (Southey's), 5. 
' Life of Newton/ 150. 
' Life of Pizarro/ 191. 
'Life of St. Paul,' 168. 
' Life of Schiller/ 113, 124. 
' Life of Shelley,' 174. 
' Life of Sir John Eliot/ 178-179. 
'Life of Sir Stafford Northcote/ 

177. 
' Life of Sir Walter Scott/ 177. 
' Life of the late Prince Consort, 

The/ 190. 
' Life of Walter Savage Landor/ 

Lightfoot, Joseph Barber. One of 
the greatest scholars in the Eng- 
lish Church, 168. 

' Light of Asia, The/ 26. 

< Light of the World, The,' 26. 

' Limits of Religious Thought, 
The/ 169. 

Lingard, John. His 'History of 
England ' fairly impartial, but 
dull, 80. 

Linton, Mrs. Lynn, 74. 

Literary Gazette, 181. 

' Literary Journalists/ 187. 

' Literary Studies/ 184. 

' Literature and Dogma/ 18. 

H 



Index 



' Literature of Europe '(Hallam's), 
78. 

' little Schoolmaster Mark/ 64. 

' Living London/ 188. 

Lockhart, John Gibson. Editor 
of the Quarterly Review; his 
'Life of Sir Walter Scott' the 
most important biography of 
the reign, 177. 

'Logic' (Mill's), 140. 

'Logic' (Whately's), 159. 

'Longer Prose Works,' 16. 

' Lorna Uoone,' 69. 

' Lost and Saved,' 72. 

'Lost Sir Massingberd,' 189. 

' Love in a Valley,' 60. 

' Love Letters of a Violinist,' 188. 

' Love or Marriage,' 68. 

'Love the Debt,' 178. 

Lover, Samuel. Best known 
works, ' Rory O'More ' and 
' Handy Andy,' 34. 

'Lover's Lexicon,' 189. 

Lubbock, Sir John. ' Pre-historic 
Times' ; ' Origin of Civilization' ; 
' Primitive Condition of Man/99. 

'Luria/ 12. 

Lyall, Edna, 74. 

Lyell, Sir Charles. Abandoned 
law for geology ; his ' Principles 
of Geology' a revolutionary 
work; the smaller 'student's 
Elements of Geology' injured 
in literary merit, 152 ; converted 
to Darwin's views ; ' The An- 
tiquity of Man/ 153. 

Lynch, Thomas Toke. A power- 
ful factor in the broad church 
movement; Congregational 

minister ; comparative obscu- 
rity; his poems in the Rivulet 
once considered heretical, now 
in most hymnologies, 166. 



' Lyra Innocentium/ 159. 

' Lyrical Ballads/ 7. 

Lytton, Edward Bulwer. ' Pel- 
ham ' ; ' Zanoni ' ; ' Plarold ' ; 
'Rienzi'; 'The Last of the 
Barons ' ; ' The Last Days of 
Pompeii ' ; ' The Caxtons ' ; 
' Money ' ; ' Richelieu ' ; ' The 
Lady of Lyons ' ; one of the 
' cleverest ' men of his age, 56. 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington. 
His work guided by rhetorical 
principles ; earliest efforts in 
Qitarterly Magazine and Edin- 
burgh Review; Jeffrey on his 
' Milton/ 91 ; qualities of his 
' Essays ' ; his career ; ' History 
of England from the Accession 
of James II.' very successful, 
92 ; his history now severely crit- 
icised, 93 ; in spite of its'' defi- 
ciencies, a great work, and an 
incentive to the reader, 94-95. 

Macaulay and Hawker, 38. 

MacCarthy, Justin. ' History of 
Our Own Time, 1830-1897/ 95 ; 
'History of the FourGeorges/96. 

MacDonald, George. ' Robert 
Falconer ' ; ' David Elginbrod ' ; 
' Alec Forbes of Howglen/ 63. 

Mackay, Charles. Novelist, poet 
and critic ; ' Forty Years' Recol- 
lections of Life, Literature and 
Public Affairs ' ; father of Eric 
Mackay, stepfather of Miss 
Marie Corelli, 188. 

Mackay, Eric. ' Love Letters of 
a Violinist/ 188. 

' Macleod of Dare/ 68. 

Macmillan's Magazine, 181. 

Macquoid, Mrs., 74. 

' Madcap Violet/ 68. 

15 



Index 



'Madeline,' 72. 

' Madoc/ 6. 

Mahon, Lord, 95. 

' Maiden and Married Life of Mary 

Powell,' 72. 
' Maid Marion/ 62. 
' Maid of Sker, The/ 69. 
' Makers of Florence/ 74. 
' Making of England, The/ 98. 
Malet, Lucas, 74. 
Manchester Examiner and Ruskin, 

*33> 

Mangan, James Clarence, 34. 

Manning, Anne. Author of 
' Maiden and Married Life of 
Mary Powell,' 72. 

Manning, Cardinal. A disputant 
for Roman Catholicism ; books 
and sermons of theological in- 
terest only ; his ' Life ' caused 
much controversy, 169. 

Mansel, Henry Longueville. A 
vigorous defender of the Angli- 
can position ; ' The Limits of 
Religious Thought'; 'Meta- 
physics, or the Philosophy 
of Consciousness, Phenomenal 
and Real ' ; a skilful fighter, 
169. 

'Manual of Political Economy' 
(Fawcett's), 142. 

'Marcian Colonna/ 36. 

'Marie Bashkirtseff's Diary/ 190. 

' Marie de Meranie/ 38. 

' Marius the Epicurean/ 171. 

' Marmorne/ 171. 

Marryat, Captain Frederick. 
'Frank Mildmay'; 'Mr. Mid- 
shipman Easy' ; 'Peter Simple ' ; 
editor of Metropolitan Magazine; 
appreciated by Carlyle and , 
Ruskin, 66-67. 

Marsh, Mrs. Author of ' The I 



2l6 



Admiral's Daughter ' and ' The 
Deformed/ 71. 

Marshall, Alfred. Author of 
'Economics of Industry' and 
' Principles of Economics/ 143. 

Marston, John Westland. Author 
of ' Strathmore/ ' Marie de 
Meranie/ and ' A Hard 
Struggle,' 38. 

Marston, Philip Bourke. Pub- 
lished ' Song Tide and Other 
Poems/ 'All in All/ and 
' Ward Voices/ 39. 

Martin, Sir Theodore. 'Life of 
the late Prince Consort/ 190; 
' Book of Ballads ' ; ' Memoir 
of Aytoun ' ; ' Life of Lord 
Lyndhurst ' ; translated the 
Odes of Horace ; ' The Vita 
Nuova'; 'Faust'; and Heine's 
'Poems and Ballads'; ' Sketch of 
the Life of Princess Alice/ 191. 

Martineau, Harriet. ' History of 
the Peace/ 95 ; Abridgment of 
Comte; influence upon her 
own generation ; very versatile 
writer ; her ' Biographical 
Sketches ' originally published 
in Daily News, 180; her his- 
torical work mere compilation ; 
' Deerbrook ' ; ' The Hour and 
the Man'; 'Letters on the 
Laws of Man's Nature and 
Development/ 181. 

Martineau, James. Early career, 
166; a supporter of Bentham's 
philosophy ; finally a believer 
in Kantian metaphysics; as 
Theist and Unitarian ; his re- 
lations with his sister Harriet ; 
' Endeavour after the Christian 
Life ' ; ' Hours of Thought on 
Sacred Things ' ; ' Study of 



Index 



'Spinoza'; 'Types of Ethical 
Theory/ 167. 

'Martyrs of Science/ 150. 

' Mary Barton/ 71. 

' Mary Tudor/ 33. 

' Masks and Faces/ 58. 

Massey, Gerald. Chartist poet. 
Wrote ' Poems and Charms ' 
and ' Voices of Freedom and 
Lyrics of Love/ &c, 37. 

Massey, William Nathaniel. ' His- 
tory of England under George 
III./ 95. 

Masson, David. ' Life of Milton ' ; 
'British Novelists and their 
Styles'; ' Drummond of Haw- 
thornden/ 177. 

' Master of Ballantrae, The/ 60. 

'Maud/ 10. 

' Maude/ 22. 

Maurice, John Frederick Denison. 
Son of a Unitarian minister; 
editor of the Athenaum ; joined 
the Anglican Church, 163; 
'Subscription no Bondage'; 
'Kingdom of Christ' tracts; 
joint authorship with Kingsley 
and Hughes of ' Politics for the 
People ' ; organised the Chris- 
tian socialist and co-operative 
movement ; preference to social 
rather than theological prob- 
lems, 164. 

Maxse, Admiral, 62. 

May, Sir Thomas Erskine. Con- 
tinued the work of Hallam and 
Stubbs, 79 ; ' Democracy in 
Europe'; 'Constitutional His- 
tory/ 80. 

Melbourne, Lord, and Macaulay, 
91. 

' Melincourt/ 62. 

Melville, George John Whyte. | 
21 



The novelist of the hunting 
field ; ' Katerfelto ' ; ' Black 
but Comely'; 'The Queen's 
Maries ' ; ' The Gladiators/ 59. 
' Memoir of Principal Tulloch/ 74. 

' Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, The/ 
45- 

'Memorials of Canterbury/ 161. 

' Men and Women/ 12. 

'Mental and Moral Science/ 147. 

' Mental Evolution in Animals/ 
157- 

Meredith, George. Began his 
literary career with a volume 
of poems; 'Love in a Valley/ 
60; 'The Browning of Novel- 
ists'; his audience among cul- 
tured and thoughtful people ; 
' The Shaving of Shagpat ' ; 
' Farina ' ; ' The Ordeal of 
Richard Feverel ' considered his 
best novel ; ' Evan Harrington ' ; 
' Rhoda Fleming ' ; ' The Ad- 
ventures of Harry Richmond ' ; 
' Beauchamp's Career ' ; ' The 
Egoist'; 'The Tragic Come- 
dians'; 'Diana of the Cross- 
ways ' ; Stevenson's admiration 
of The Egoist/ 61 ; ' Sandra 
Belloni/ 62. 

Meredith, George, and Rossetti, 
24. 

Merivale, Charles. 'History of 
the Romans under the Empire/ 
102. 

'Metaphysics, or the Philosophy 
of Consciousness, Phenomenal 
and Real,' 169. 

Methodism and Carlyle, $i. 

'Methods of Ethics/ 143. 

Metropolitan Magazine, The, 67. 

' Micawber/ the prototype of the 
elder Dickens, 42. 

7 



Index 



'Middle Ages' (Hallam's), 77. 
' Middlemarch/ 50. 
Mill, James. ' History of India'; 
' Analysis of the Human Mind/ 

137- 

Mill, John Stuart. Ruskin's 
scorn of; education, 137; in- 
fluence of Wordsworth; the 
India House ; Westminster Re- 
view ; Carlyle's ' French Revolu- 
tion/ 138; marriage; his ex- 
aggerated opinion of his wife ; 
' Political Economy ' ; ' Liberty ' ; 
' Subjection of Women ' ; con- 
temporary opinion of Mrs. Mill, 
139; 'Logic'; 'Essays on Un- 
settled Questions in Political 
Economy ' ; 'Principles of Poli- 
tical Economy' ; ' Liberty ' ; ' Sir 
William Hamilton's Philoso- 
phy' ; ' Dissertations and Dis- 
cussions '; 'Considerations on 
Representative Government ' ; 
character ; a stimulator of pub- 
lic opinion, 140; his philosophi- 
cal weaknesses, 141-142 ; aban- 
donment of early positions; 
' Autobiography ' ; a socialist at 
the last, 142. 

' Mill on the Floss, The/ 50. 

Millais, Sir John, and the pre- 
Raphaelite movement, 23. 

Miller, Hugh, 151. Journalist; 
The Witness ; 'Old Red Sand- 
stone ' ; ' Footprints of the 
Creator ' ; ' The Testimony of 
the Rocks/ 152. 

Milman, Henry Hart. ' Gibbon's 
Rome'; ' History of the Jews '; 
' History of Christianity under 
the Empire/ 102 ; ' Latin Chris- 
tianity ' ; Dean Stanley's appre- 
ciation, 103. 

21* 



'Milton, Masson's Life of/ 177. 

' Ministering Children/ 73. 

Minor Poet, The, of our era, 31. 

' Mirandola/ 36. 

Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. G. 
H. Lewes ; their application of 
the ' Doctrine of Evolution to 
Thought/ 147. 

' Mr. Midshipman Easy,' 67. 

Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures/ 
187. 

'Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles/ 71. 

Mivart, St. George, 151. 

' Modern ' essays, 172. 

'Modern Painters/ 130, 132. 

Molesworth, Rev. William Nassau. 
' History of England, 1830- 
1873 ' ; ' History of the Church 
of England,' 95. 

* Moliere/ 74. 

'Money/ 56. 

' Monks of St. Mark, The/ 62. 

' Monograph on Charlotte Bronte/ 
183. 

Monthly Magazine, The, 42. 

' Moonstone, The/ 69. 

Moore, Thomas. The pioneer of 
the ' Celtic Renaissance ' ; ' Irish 
Melodies/ 33 ; ' Lalla Rookh ' ; 
' Life of Byron/ 34. 

'More Leaves from the Journal of 
our Life in the Highlands/ 192. 

'More Worlds than One,' 150. 

Morison, James Cotter. Biogra- 
pher of St. Bernard of Clairvaux 
and Macaulay; 'The Service of 
Man/ 180. 

Morley, John. Antagonist of 
'Supernatural Christianity'; a 
gifted biographer and journalist; 
editor of Morning Star, Literary 
Gazette, Fortnightly Review, Pall 
Mall Gazette, and Macmillan's 



Index 



Magazine ; M. P. for Newcastle- 
on-Tyne ; editor of ' English 
Men of Letters Series ' ; ' Life 
of Burke ' ; influence on thought- 
ful young men at the universi- 
ties, 181 ; lives of Voltaire, 
Rousseau, Diderot ; ' Life of 
Cobden'; his essay 'On Com- 
promise ' probably the most 
exhaustive treatment of the 
question, 182. 

Morley, John, and Macaulay, 93. 

Morning Chronicle, The, 42. 

Morning Star, 181. 

Morris, Sir Lewis. Wrote ' Songs 
of Two Worlds ' ; ' Epic of 
Hades ' ; ' A Vision of Saints/ 
&c, 26. 

Morris, William. Connection with 
Rossetti, 23; versatility of his 
genius ; ' Dream of John Ball ' ; 
' News from Nowhere,' 24 ; 
' Defence of Guenevere ' ; ' Life 
and Death of Jason'; 'The 
Earthly Paradise,' 25. 

Moulton, Mrs. Chandler, 39. 

Miiller, Friedrich Max. Wilhelm 
Muller ; education ; philosophi- 
cal studies ; Oxford professor- 
ship ; ' Lectures on the Science 
of Language ' ; ' Chips from a 
German Workshop,' 99; early 
religious systems, 100. 

Mulock, Dinah. ' John Halifax, 
Gentleman,' her best and most 
successful book, 72. 

' Munera Pulveris,' 133. 

Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey. 
Geologist; popularity of his 
' Siluria,' 152. 

Murray, Dr. John, 155. 

'My Beautiful Lady,' 23. 

*My Cousin Nicholas,' 30. 



Myers, Ernest, 173. 

Myers, Frederick William Henry. 
' Saint Paul ' ; his ' Classical ' 
and 'Modern' critical essays 
full of delightful ideas ; bio- 
graphy of Wordsworth, 172. 

' Mythology of the Aryan Nations,' 



Nansen, Dr., 186. 

'Napoleon, A Short History of,' 
105. 

' National and Historical Ballads, 
Songs and Poems,' 34. 

National Reformer, The, and 
' The City of Dreadful Night,' 32. 

'Natural History,' 153. 

' Natural Religion,' J05. 

' Naturalist's Voyage round the 
World, A,' 155. 

' Nelson Memorial, The,' 6. 

'Nemesis of Faith,' 84. 

' Never Too Late to Mend,' 58. 

' New Arabian Nights, The,' 60. 

' Newcomes, The,' 45. 

' New Magdalen, The,' 69. 

Newman, Francis William . Brother 
of Cardinal Newman, but hold- 
ing opposite religious views ; 
'The Soul,' ' Theism,' ' Phases 
of Faith,' 170, 171. 

Newman, Francis, and George 
Eliot, 49. 

Newman, John Henry. Early re- 
ligious tendencies; 'My Battle 
with Liberalism,' 107; Matthew 
Arnol d's description of Newman, 
107-10S ; Tractarian movement; 
'Lead Kindly Light'; 'Tracts 
for the Time'; Tract XC, 108- 
109 ; joins Church of Rome ; 
Birmingham oratory; created 
Cardinal ; installed as Prince of 



119 



Index 



the Sacred College ; Father 
Achilli, 109; 'Apologia pro 
Vita Sua ' ; Kingsley's attack 
and defeat, iio-in ; Froude 
on Newman's character, u 
' Dream of Gerontius ' ; ' Verses 
on Various Occasions/ in 
'Callista'; 'A Sketch of the 
Third Century'; 'Essay in 
Aid of the Grammar of Assent,' 
in; Swinburne's ' Apostrophe'; 
Newman's influence on England 
and her Prime Ministers, 112. 

' New Poems,' 22. 

' News from Nowhere/ 24. 

' Nicholas Nickleby/ 42. 

' Nightmare Abbey/ 62. 

' Night Side of Nature, The/ 72. 

Noitconformist, The, and Spencer, 

145- 
'North and South/ 71. 
Norton, Mrs. Author of ' Stuart 

of Dunleath ' and ' Lost and 

Saved ' ; now lives mainly in 

' Diana of the Crossways ' ; the 

' Byron of Poetesses/ 72. 
Novelists and journalism, 186- 

187. 
Novelists of the Era : — 

Ainsworth, W. H., 67. 

Alexander, Mrs., 74. 

A. L. O. E., 73. 

Barrie, J. M., 63. 

Besant, Sir W., 65. 

Black, W., 68. 

Blackmore, R. D., 69. 

Braddon, Miss, 74. 

Bronte, Anne, 48. 

Bronte, Charlotte, 46. 

Bronte, Emily, 47. 

Broughton, Miss R., 74. 

Carleton, W., 66. 

Carroll, Lewis, 64. 



Novelists of the Era (continued)- 
Charles, Mrs., 73. 
Charlesworth, Miss M. L., 7^. 
Clifford, Mrs. W. K., 74. 
Clive, Mrs. Archer, 72. 
Craik, Mrs., 72. 
Crowe, Mrs., 71. 
Collins, W. W., 69. 
Corelli, Miss M., 74. 
Dickens, C, 42. 
Disraeli, B., 57. 
Doyle, Conan, 63. 
Eliot, George, 49. 
Ewing, Mrs., 73. 
Fullerton, Lady G., 72. 
Gaskell, Mrs., 71. 
Hardy, T., 68. 
Hope, Anthony, 63. 
James, G. P. R., 67. 
Kavanagh, Miss J., 72. 
Kingsley, C, 53. 
Kingsley, H., 55. 
Kingston, W. H. G., 67. 
Le Fanu, J. S., 66. 
Lever, C, 66. 
Linton, Mrs. Lynn, 74. 
Lyall, Edna, 74. 
Lytton, E. B., 56. 
MacDonald, G., 63. 
Macquoid, Mrs., 74. 
Malet, L., 74. 
Manning, Anne, 72. 
Marry at, Captain F., 66. 
Marsh, Mrs., 71. 
Melville, G. J. W., 59. 
Meredith, G., 59. 
Mulock, Miss D., 72. 
Norton, Mrs., 72. 
Oliphant, Mrs., 74. 
Ouida, 74. 
Peacock, T. L., 62. 
Pemberton, Max, 67. 
"Q-",6 3 . 



220 



Index 



Novelists of the Era {continued) — 
Reade, C, 57. 
Rice, J., 65. 

Schreiner, Miss O., 74. 
Sergeant, Miss A., 74. 
Shorthouse, J. H., 64. 
Stevenson, R. L., 59. 
Stretton, Mrs., 72. 
Thackeray, W. M., 44. 
Trollope, A., 57. 
Tucker, Miss C. M., 73. 
Ward, Mrs. H., 74. 
Warren, S., 70. 
Weyman, S., 63. 
Wood, Mrs. H., 70. 
Yonge, Miss C, 74. 

Odes of Horace (Martin's trans- 
lation), 191. 

' Old Arm Chair, The/ 29. 

' Old Curiosity Shop, The,' 42. 

< Old English History,' 81. 

' Old Red Sandstone/ 152. 

' Old St. Paul's/ 67. 

' Old Stoic, The/ 47. 

Oliphant, Mrs. Type of the age, 
alike in her versatility and lack 
of thoroughness ; wrote bio- 
graphy, criticism, and every 
form of prose ; ' Makers of 
Florence ' ; ' Life of Edward 
Irving ' ; ' History of Eighteenth 
Century Literature ' ; ' Memoir 
of Principal Tulloch ' ; ' Cer- 
vantes ' ; ' Moliere ' ; ' Dress ' ; 
neither a good critic nor a very 
accurate student ; her fame will 
have to rest on her novels, 74 ; 
' Salem Chapel ' has been com- 
pared to ' Silas Marner ' ; ' Pas- 
sages in the Life of Margaret 
Maitland ' her first novel ; * The 
Lady's Walk' the last; with 



more concentration her genius 
would have given her an endur- 
ing place in English fiction, 75. 

' Oliver Twist,' 42. 

' Omar Khayyam/ 35. 

' On Compromise/ 182. 

' Onesimus/ 165. 

1 On the Divinity of Jesus Christ/ 
167. 

' On the Proper Sphere of Govern- 
ment/ 145. 

* On the Structure and Motion of 
Glaciers/ 151. 

' Ordeal of Richard Feverel/ 61. 

' Order and Progress/ 179. 

' Origin of Civilization,' 99. 

' Origin of Species/ 156. 

' Orion/ 36. 

O'Shaughnessy, Arthur. Wrote 
' Epic of Women and other 
Poems/ 39. 

Ouida, 74. 

Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, 
The, 23. 

Palgrave, Francis Turner. Editor 
of the ' Golden Treasury of Songs 
and Lyrics/ 81. 

Palgrave, Sir Francis. Wrote 
' History of Normandy and 
England/ 81. 

Pall Mall Gazette, 181, 188. 

' Palmyra/ 62. 

' Paper Money Lyrics and other 
Poems/ 62. 

' Passages from the Diary of a Late 
Physician/ 70. 

' Passages in the Life of Margaret 
Maitland/ 75. 

' Past and Present,' 123. 

Pater, Walter. 'A great Critic'; 
' Marius the Epicurean ' ; ' Ima- 
ginary Portraits'; 'the most 



221 



Index 



rhythmical of English prose 
writers ' ; ' Renaissance ' ; • Ap- 
preciations/ 171. 

Patmore, Coventry. ' The Poet of 
Domestic Bliss ' ; ' Angel in the 
House'; not always sincere, 
31 ; ' Unknown Eros,' 32. 

Pattison, Mark. ' Essays and 
Reviews ' ; ' The Tendencies of 
Religious Thought in England ' ; 
' Assistance in the Tractarian 
Movement ' ; final acceptance 
of ' Liberalism ' ; Rector of 
Lincoln College, Oxford; a 
profound scholar; 'Life of 
Isaac Casaubon,' 163. 

' Paul Ferrell,' 72. 

' Pauline,' 13. 

Payn, James. Editor Cornhill 
Magazine; his ' Lost Sir Massing- 
berd ' ; 'By Proxy ' the most 
popular of his novels, 189. 

Peacock, Thomas Love. Influence 
of, on Meredith; 'The Monks 
of St. Mark'; 'Palmyra'; 
'Headlong Hall'; 'Melin- 
court ' ; ' Nightmare Abbey ' ; 
' Maid Marion ' ; ' Crotchet 
Castle ' ; ' Paper Money Lyrics 
and other Poems,' 62 ; * Gryll 
Grange ' ; his relations with other 
famous men, 63. 

' Peg Woffington,' 58. 

' Pelham,' 56. 

Pemberton, Max, 63. 

' Pendennis/ 45. 

' Pentateuch and Book of Joshua 
Critically Examined, The,' 164. 

' Peter Simple,' 67. 

' Phantasmion,' 35. 

' Phases of Faith,' 170, 171. 

' Philip Van Artevelde/ 27. 

' Philochristus,' 165. 

2 



* Philosophy of Kant,' 170. 

' Physics and Politics/ 184. 

' Physiography/ 158. 

' Pickwick Papers/ influence of 

eighteenth century humorists 

marked in, 4.1 ; first appearance 

of, 42. 
' Pioneers of Evolution/ 99. 
' Poems and Charms/ 37. 
' Poems by Currer, Ellis, and 

Acton Bell/ 47. 
' Poems ' by George Meredith, 60, 

62. 
' Poems,' by Matthew Arnold, 20. 
' Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset 

Dialect/ yi- 
Poets of the Era : — 

Arnold, M., 17-21. 

Arnold, Sir Edwin, 26. 

Austin, A., 39. 

Bailey, P. J., 28. 

Banim, J., 34. 

Banim, M., 34. 

Barham, R. H., 30. 

Barnes, W., 37. 

Beddoes, T. L., 36. 

Browning, Mrs., 14- 1 5. 

Browning, Robert, 13-14. 

Calverly, C. S., 30. 

Clough, A. H., 2i. 

Coleridge, H, 35. 

Coleridge, Sara, 35. 

Cook, Eliza, 29. 

Cooper, T., 37. 

Davies, T., 34. 

De Vere, T. A., 33. 

Dobell, S.. 31. 

Dobson, A., 30. 

Dufferin, Lady, 34. 

Elliott, E., 37. 

Ferguson, Sir S., 34. 

FitzGerald, E., 34. 

Hawker, R. S., 38. 
22 



Index 



Poets of the Era {continued) — 

Hood,^., 29. 

Home, R. H., 36. 

Ingelow, Jean, 29. 

Jones, E., 37. 

Kipling, R., 40. 

Landor, W. S., 15-16. 

Lang, A., 30. 

Lover, S., 34. 

Mangan, J. C, 34. 

Marston, J. W., 39. 

Marston, P. B., 40. 

Massey, G., 37. 

Moore, T., 33. 

Morris, Sir Lewis, 25. 

Morris, William, 24-26. 

O'Shaughnessy, A., 40. 

Patmore, C, 31. 

Procter, A. A., 36. 

Procter, B. W., 35. 

Rossetti, Christina, 22. 

Rossetti, Dante G., 22-23. 

Rossetti, Maria Francesca, 22. 

Smith, A., 31. 

Southey, R., 5-7. 

Swinburne, A. C, 16-17. 

Taylor, Sir Henry, 28. 

Tennyson, A., 10-13. 

Thomson, J., 32. 

Tupper, M. F., 27. 

Watson, W., 40. 

Woolmer, T, 23. 

Wordsworth, 47-49. 
1 Political Destiny of Canada, The,' 

185. 
'Political Economy' (Fawcett's), 

142. 
'Political Economy' (Mill's), 139, 

141. 
' Political Economy ' (Sidgwick's), 

143- 
' Politics for the People,' 164. 
Portfolio, The, 172. 

223 



Potter, Miss Beatrice, 144. 

Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, 36. 

' Praaterita,' 130. 

' Pre-historic Times,' 99. 

' Prelude, The,' 9. 

' Pre-Raphaelite Movement, The,' 

2 3- 
' Pre-Raphaelitism,' 132. 
' Pride and his Pursuers,' 73. 
' Pride and Prejudice,' 41. 
' Primer of English Literature,' 

166. 
' Primitive Condition of Man,' 99. 
' Primitive Culture,' 99. 
' Prince Otto,' 60. 
' Principles of Economics,' 143. 
' Principles of Geology,' 152. 
' Principles of Political Economy ' 

(Mill's), 139, 140, 141. 
' Principles of Political Economy ' 

(Sidgwick's), 143. 
' Principles of Psychology,' 145. 
' Problems of Life and Mind,' 149. 
Procter, Adelaide Anne. Wrote 

' Legends and Lyrics,' &c, 36. 
Procter, Bryan Waller. Wrote 

'Dramatic Scenes'; 'Marcian 

Colonna'; ' Mirandola,' &c, 

35-36. 
' Professor, The,' 47. 
' Prolegomena to Ethics,' 148. 
' Proverbial Philosophy,' 27. 
' Proverbs in Porcelain,' 30. 
Punch, 188. 
' Purgatory of Suicides, The/ 

37- 
Pusey, Edward Bouverie. Founder 

of the modern high church 

movement ; a writer of ' Tracts 

for the Times'; 'Letter to 

Keble ' ; ' Eirenicon,' 158 ; 

Cardinal Newman's reply, 159. 
' Put Yourself in His Place,' 58. 



Index 



Quarterly Magazine, The, 91. 
Quarterly Review, The, 28, 93, 

154, 177. 
' Queen's Maries, The, 59. 
' Queen Mary,' 10. 

' Raleigh,' 27. 

' Ranthorpe/ 149. 

Rattlesnake Survey, The, 157. 

' Ravenshoe,' 55. 

Reade, Charles, 57-58. ' Peg 
Woffington ' ; ' The Cloister and 
the Hearth ' ; ' Griffith Gaunt ' 
' Hard Cash ' ; * Foul Play ' 
' Put Yourself in His Place ' 
' Never Too Late to Mend ' 
' Masks and Faces ' ; ' Drink, 
58. 

Reade, Charles. His opinion of 
'Adam Bede/ 50. 

' Ready Money Mortiboy/ 65. 

'Realmah/ 191. 

' Recreations of Christopher 
North,' 187. 

Reid, Sir Wemyss. ' Monograph 
on Charlotte Bronte,' and life of 
Lord Houghton, 183. 

'Reign of Henry VIII., The/ 
89. 

' Reign of William Rufus and Ac- 
cession of Henry I.,' 81. 

' Rejected Addresses,' 8. 

' Relations between England and 
America, The/ 185. 

' Remembrances of Mrs. Overthe- 
way/ 73. 

' Renaissance in Italy/ 103. 

' Renaissance. Studies in Art and 
Poetry/ 171. 

• Return of the Native, The,' 68. 

' Rhetoric' (Whately's), 159. 

' Rhoda Fleming/ 61. 

2 



Rice, James. Collaborated with 
Walter Besant in ' Ready 
Money Mortiboy ' and ' The 
Golden Butterfly/ 65. 

Richardson, 41, 43. 

' Richelieu/ 56. 

' Rienzi/ 56. 

' Ring and the Book, The/ 12. 

' Rise and Influence of the Spirit 
of Rationalism/ 96. 

' Ritualism, Essay on/ 106. 

' Rivulet, The/ 166. 

' Robert Falconer/ 63. 

Robertson, Frederick William. 
Perhaps the purest and most in- 
spiring teacher of the broad 
church party, 165; his life 
made known to us by Stopford 
Brooke's beautiful biography, 
166. 

Robinson, Henry Crabb. ' Diary/ 
edited by Dr. Sadler; Robinson's 
' Breakfasts to Literary Men and 
Women/ 183. 

'Rocks Ahead/ 170. 

Rogers, Samuel. ' His Break- 
fasts ' ; poems written before 
Queen's accession ; his ' Table 
Talk ' full of good stories, 183. 

' Rogers and his Contemporaries/ 
T84. 

'Rogers, Early Life of/ 184. 

Rogers, Thorold. ' History of 
Agriculture and Prices/ 144. 

' Roman Empire, The Holy/ 104. 

Romanes, George John. 'Animal 
Intelligence/ ' Mental Evolution 
in Animals/ 157. 

' Romany Rye, The,' 185. 

' Rome, History of ' (Dr. Arnold's), 
160. 

' Romola,' 50. 

' Rookwood/ 67. 

24 



Index 



'Rory O'More/ 34. 

Rossetti,Christina Georgina. 'Gob- 
lin Market/ 'Called to be 
Saints/ ' The Face of the Deep/ 
' Maude/ ' New Poems/ 22. 

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 22 ; the 
pre-Raphaelite movement ; the 
Germ; ' The Blessed Damozel ' ; 
' Hand and Soul ' ; connection 
with Ruskin,Morris, Swinburne, 
and Oxford and Cambridge Mag- 
azine ; ' The Earlyltalian Poets/ 
23; 'The White Ship'; 'The 
King's Tragedy ' ; ' Sister 
Helen ' ; ' The House of Life/ 
24. 

Rossetti, Maria Francesca. 'Shad- 
ow of Dante/ 22. 

'Rubayat of Omar Khayyam of 
Naishapur, 35. 

Ruskin, John, 129. ' Praeterite ' ; 
early influences ; Oxford ; ' Sal- 
sette and Elephanta ' ; ' Modern 
Painters ' ; Mazzini's opinion of ; 
' Seven Lamps of Architecture/ 
meaning of the ' Seven Lamps/ 
131 ; the ' Stones of Venice ' ; 
' Pre-Raphaelitism ' ; Slade lec- 
tures ; as economist ; ' Unto this 
Last/ 132; the Corn/till Maga- 
zine readers ; his socialism ; 
'Munera Pulveris'; 'Time and 
Tide by Wear and Tyne ' ; Man- 
chester Examiner ; ' Fors Clavi- 
gera/ 133; the tea-shop in the 
Marylebone Road ; St. George's 
Guild; Ruskin museum, 134; 
his influence on English taste in 
dress, furniture, &c. ; ' Crown of 
Wild Olive ' ; ' Time and Tide/ 
'Sesame and Lilies/ 135-6; his 
self-criticism, 136; scorn of 
John Stuart Mill, 137. 

P 225 



Ruskin and the Pre-Raphaelite 
movement, 23; generosity to 
Rossetti, 23 ; and Coventry Pat- 
more, 32. 

'Ruth/ 71. 

Ryle, John Charles. Famous liter- 
ary exponent of the Evangelical 
position ; ' Shall we know one 
another in Heaven ' ; ' Bible In- 
spiration/ 168. 

Saintsbury, George. Professor 
of English Literature at the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh ; profound 
knowledge of French literature; 
influence of English seventeenth- 
century literature upon his style, 
174 ; in brief biographies of Sir 
Walter Scott and others most 
excellent, 175. 

' Saint Paul/ 172. 

' Saint's Tragedy, The/ 53. 

' St. Ives/ 60. 

St. Luke, Thirl wall's Translation 
of Schleiermacher's Essay on, 
101. 

' St. Thomas of Canterbury/ 33. 

Sala, George Augustus. 'The 
Land of the Golden Fleece ' ; 
' America Revisited ' ; ' Living 
London/ 188. 

' Salem Chapel/ 75. 

' Salsette and Elephanta/ 130. 

Sanderson, Burdon, 151. 

' Sandra Belloni/ 61. 

' Sands of Dee, The/ 54. 

' Sartor Resartus/ 121. 

Saturday Review, The, and Free- 
man, 82. 

' Savonarola/ 40. 

' Saxons in England/ 80. 

Sayce, Archibald Henry. At 
Oxford; ' Herodotus/ 100. 



Index 



' Scenes of Clerical Life/ 49. 

Schloss, D. F., 144. 

' Schonberg-Cotta Family, The,' 

73- 

Schreiner, Miss Olive, 74. 

' Science, Lectures on, for Un- 
scientific People,' 1 50-1 51. 

Scott, Sir Walter. Death of, 5; 
on ' Madoc/ 6 ; Lockhart's ' Life 
of,' 177. 

Scott, William Bell. Best known 
by his 'Autobiography/ 173. 

' Seaside Studies,' 149. 

Seeley, Sir John Robert. ' Life 
and Times of Stein ' ; German 
and English criticisms; pro- 
fessorship at Cambridge ; 
' History and Politics/ 104 ; 
1 Expansion of England ' : ' A 
Short History of Napoleon ' ; 
'Ecce Homo'; censure and 
praise ; Mr. Gladstone ; ' Nat- 
ural Religion/ 105. 

' Select Charters/ 79. 

' Selections from Wordsworth/ 8, 

9- 
'Select Poem of Wordsworth/ 

8,9- 
'Senses and the Intellect, The/ 
. 147. 

Sergeant, Miss Adeline, 74. 
' Service of Man, The/ 180. 
'Sesame and Lilies/ 135-136. 
' Seven Lamps of Architecture/ 

130-131. 
'Shadow of Dante/ 22. 
'Shakspere, his Mind and Art/ 

173- 

' Shall we know one another in 

Heaven/ 168. 
' Shaving of Shagpat, The/ 61. 
Shelley, Death of, 5 ; on Southey's 

' Thalaba/ 6 ; acquaintance 
1 



with Peacock, 62 ; Dowden's 
'Life of/ 174. 

Sherlock Holmes, 63. 

Shirley, 47. 

' Short History of Napoleon, A? 
105. 

' Short History of the English 
People/ 98. 

Shorthouse, Joseph Henry. ' John 
Inglesant ' ; ' Sir Percival ' ; 
' Little Schoolmaster Mark/ 64. 

' Short Studies on Great Subjects/ 
88. 

Sidgwick, Henry. ' Principles 
of Political Economy ' ; a 
criticism of conflicting views ; 
' Methods of Ethics ' ; a com- 
promise ; ' Elements of Politics/ 

143. 

' Silas Marner, 50. 

' Siluria/ 152. 

' Sinai and Palestine/ 161. 

' Sir Percival/ 64. 

' Sister Helen/ 24. 

' Sketches by Boz/ 42. 

' Sketch of the Life of Princess 
Alice/ 191. 

Smith, Alexander, 31. 

Smith, Goldwin. ' The Relations 
between England and Amer- 
ica'; ' The Political Destiny of 
Canada/ 185. 

Smith, H. Llewellyn, 144. 

Smith, Sydney. 'The Ballot'; 
' The Church Bills ' ; ' The Wit 
and Wisdom of Sydney Smith/ 
187. 

' Social Statics/ 145. 

' Soldiers, Three/ 40. 

' Some Aspects of Robert Burns/ 
60. 

' Song of the Shirt/ 29. 

' Song of the Sword/ 172. 
26 



Index 



' Song of the Western Men,' 38. 

' Songs of Two Worlds/ 26. 

' Song Tide and other Poems/ 39. 

'■ Sonnets from the Portuguese/ 
14. 

' Sonnets on the War/ 31. 

'Soul, The/ 170. 

Southey. Chiefly known to-day 
by his ' Life of Nelson/ and a 
few lyrics and ballads, 5; his 
' Cowper ' a better book than 
' Nelson/ but, like his ' Thalaba ' 
and ' Madoc/ is not read to-day ; 
opinions of his contemporaries 
on his works, 6; Southey the 
man, 7 ; his estimate of Landor, 

' Spanish Gypsy/ 50. 

Spedding, James. 'Letters and 
Life of Francis Bacon/ an at- 
tempt at a thorough destruction 
of Macaulay's criticism upon 
the great philosopher, 184. 

1 Speeches and Addresses of the 
late Prince Consort/ 92. 

Spencer, Herbert. The most char- 
acteristic philosopher of the cen- 
tury ; birth ; education ; career ; 
' On the Proper Sphere of Gov- 
ernment' ; Nonconformist ; West- 
minster Review ; ' Social Statics'; 
' Principles of Psychology ' ; 
' Education ' ; ' First Principles/ 
145 ; ' Descriptive Sociology' ; 
his great achievement ; univer- 
sality of his knowledge ; his 
' Study of Sociology ' and ' Edu- 
cation/ books which all who 
read must enjoy ; his the glory of 
restoring to Great Britain the old 
supremacy in philosophy, 146. 

( Spencer, Mr. Herbert, and Mr. 
G. H. Lewes : their Application 



of the Doctrine of Evolution to 
Thought/ 147. 

' Spirit's Trials, The/ 84. 

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Most 
distinguished Nonconformist 
minister of the period; 'John 
Ploughman's Talk/ 168. 

Standard, The. Austin's con- 
nection with, 40. 

Stanhope, Earl (Lord Mahon). 
' History of the Reign of Queen 
Anne,' a link between Mac- 
aulay and his own later ' History 
of England from the Peace of 
Utrecht down to the Peace of 
Versailles (1713-1783)/ 95. 

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn. 'Life 
of Dr. Arnold'; 'Memorials of 
Canterbury' ; ' Sinai and Pales- 
tine'; 'Lectures on the East- 
ern Church ' ; ' Lectures on 
the Jewish Church ' ; leader of 
the broad church movement; 
proposed the suppression of the 
Athanasian creed in church 
services ; his ' Life/ written by 
Dean Bradley, 162. 

Stanley, H. M., 186. 

' State in its Relations with the 
Church, The/ 106. 

' Statesmen of the Common- 
wealth/ 179. 

' Stein, Life and Times of/ 104. 

Stephen, Leslie. A critic of re- 
markable learning ; ' Hours in 
a Library ' ; ' History of English 
Thought in the Eighteenth Cen- 
tury/ 175; first editor of the 
Dictionary of National Biog- 
raphy, 176. 

Stephen, Leslie, and Macaulay, 

Sterne, 41. 



227 



Index 



Stevenson, Robert Louis. One of 
the most picturesque figures in 
literature. ' With a Donkey in 
the Cevennes/ 59; his plays; 
'Beau Austin/ probably the 
greatest contribution to the 
drama of the era ; ' Virginibus 
Puerisque'; 'Some Aspects of 
Robert Burns ' ; ' A Child's Gar- 
den of Verse'; 'Underwoods'; 
his place as a novelist ; ' Treas- 
ure Island ' ; ' The New Arabian 
Nights ' ; ' The Master of Bal- 
lantrae ' ; ' Prince Otto ' ; 'St. 
Ives ' ; ' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
Hyde/ a parable which has 
thrilled us all, 60; his admira- 
tion of ' The Egoist/ 61 ; his 
influence on the modern histor- 
ical romance, 63. 

Stewart, Balfour, 151. 

' Stones of Venice/ 132. 

' Story cf My Heart, The/ 188. 

' Strathmore/ 38. 

Strauss, 49. 

' Strayed Reveller, The/ 20. 

Stretton, Mrs. Author of 'The 
Valley of a Hundred Fires/ 72. 

' Structure and Distribution of 
Coral Reefs/ 155. 

' Stuart of Dunleath/ 72. 

Stubbs, William. Librarian at 
Lambeth Palace ; edited mediae- 
val chronicles, 78 ; Regius Pro- 
fessor of History at Oxford ; 
' Select Charters ' ; ' Constitu- 
tional History' ; profoundly 
scientific, but not dry-as-dust, 79. 

' Student's Elements of Geology/ 
152. 

' Studies in Art and Poetry/ 171. 

' Studies in Homer/ 106. 

' Studies in Literature/ 173. 

22 



' Studies in Sensation and Event,' 
37- 

' Study of Sociology/ 146. 

' Study of Spinoza/ 167. 

' Subjection of Women/ 139. 

' Subscription no Bondage,' 164. 

'Supernatural Religion/ 171. 

' Supper at the Mill/ 29. 

' Susan Hopley/ 71. 

' Swallow Flights/ 39. 

Swift, modern biographies of, 178. 

Swinburne, Algernon Charles. 
Admiration of, and likeness to 
Landor ; his rank as poet, 16 ; 
'Ave atque Vale'; a critic of 
almost unequalled distinction, 
perhaps the most distinguished 
literary figure of our day, 17 ; 
connection with Rossetti, 24 ; 
admiration of Emily Bronte, 47. 

' Sybil/ 57. 

' Sylvia's Lovers/ 71. 

Symonds, John Addington. Re- 
naissance in Italy, 103 ; Cel- 
lini's ' Autobiography/ 104. 

1 Table Talk ' (Southey's), 6. 

1 Table Talk ' (Roger's), 183. 

' Tales of Ireland/ 66. 

' Tancred/ 57. 

' Tangled Tale, A/ 64. 

' Task, The/ 6. 

Taylor, Sir Henry. Author of 
' Philip Van Artevelde/ &c, 28. 

Temple, Frederick. 'The Edu- 
cation of the world ' ; opposition 
to his receiving bishopric of 
Exeter ; Bishop of London, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, 162. 

'Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The/ 
48. 

' Tendencies of Religious Thought 
in England, The/ 163. 



Index 



Tennyson, Alfred. Purity of his 
style ; music ; no great char- 
acterisation in 'Harold* or 
' Queen Mary ' ; insight of 
' Maud ' ; 'In Memoriam ' and 
' The Idylls of the King ' won 
him wider audiences, 10, his 
transcendentalism ; friendship 
with Browning; social traits, 
ii ; popularity, 12. 

' Ten Thousand a Year/ 70. 

1 Tess of the D'Urbervilles,' 68. 

' Testimony of the Rocks, The/ 
152. 

Thackeray, William Makepeace, 
44-46; admiration for 'David 
Copperfield ' ; his literary posi- 
tion, 44 ; Fraser's Magazine ; 
' History of Samuel Titmarsh 
and the Great Hoggarty 
Diamond ' ; ' Yellow Plush 
Papers'; 'Memoirs of Barry 
Lyndon ' ; ' Vanity Fair ' ; 
' Pendennis ' ; ' Esmond ' ; ' The 
Newcomes ' ; ' The Virginians ' ; 
contested Oxford ; Cornhill 
Magazine, 45 ; his death ; his 
five great novels the basis of his 
future fame, 46; Trollope's 
biography of, 58; burlesqued 
G. P. R. James, 67. 

1 Thalaba/ 6. 

' Theism/ 170. • 

Theocritus (Lang's translation), 
176. 

' Theology in the English Poets/ 
166. 

Thirlwall, Connop (Bishop). 
' History of Greece ' ; Grote's ap- 
preciation of; Schleiermacher's 
' Essay on St. Luke/ 101. 

' Thomas a Becket/ 86. 

Thomson, James. Author of ' The 



City of Dreadful Night/ &c, 

3 2 - 

' Three Fishers, The/ 54. 

' Through Nature to Christ/ 165. 

' Through the Looking-Glass/ 64. 

' Thucydides/ 160. 

' Thyrsis/ 21. 

' Time and Tide by Wear and 
Tyne/ 133, 135. 

'Tom Brown's School Days/ 161. 

'Tom Jones/ 41. 

' Tower of London, The/ 67. 

' Town Life in the Fifteenth Cen- 
tury/ 98. 

Toynbee, Arnold. 'The Indus- 
trial Revolution/ 144. 

' Tract XC.,' 108. 

' Tracts for the Time/ 108. 

1 Trade Unionism, The History of/ 

H5- 

' Tragic Comedians, The/ 61. 

' Traits and Stories of the Irish 
Peasantry/ 66. 

' Treasure Island/ 60. 

Trevelyan, Sir George Otto. His 
'Life of Lord Macaulay' a delight- 
ful biography ; ' Early History of 
Charles James Fox/ 182. 

' Tristram Shandy/ 41. 

Trollope, Anthony. The novelist 
of provincial life in early Vic- 
torian times ; ' Barchester 
Towers ' ; ' Framley Parsonage ' ; 
' Dr. Thorne ' ; ' Life of Cicero ' ; 
his biography of Thackeray the 
best that has yet appeared, 58. 

Tucker, Miss C. M. (A. L. O. E.), 

73- 
Tupper, Martin Farquhar. Popu- 
larity of his ' Proverbial Phil- 
osophy ' ; later works, ' Ballads 
for the Times/ ' Raleigh/ 
' Cithara/ not so successful, 26. 



229 



Index 



Turner, Sharon, 80. 

' Two Years Ago/ 54. 

Tylor, Edward Burnett. ' Primitive 
Culture'; ' Anthropology/ 99. 

Tyndall, John. ' Faraday as a 
Discoverer/ 150; 'Lectures on 
Science for Unscientific People' ; 
Huxley's eulogy of; 'On the 
Structure and Motion of Gla- 
ciers/ 151. 

' Types of Ethical Theory/ 167. 

1 Uncle Silas/ 66. 

' Underwoods/ 60. 

' Unknown Eros/ 31 ; 

' Unto this Last/ 132-133, 136. 

' Valley of a Hundred Fires, 
The/ 72. 

' Vanity Fair/ 45. 

' Vatican Decrees, The/ 106. 

' Venetia/ 57. 

' Verses and Translations/ 30. 

' Verses on Various Occasions/ 
in. 

' Vicar of Wakefield, The/ 41. 

Victoria, Queen. ' Leaves from a 
Journal of our Life in the High- 
lands ' ; ' The Early Days of 
His Royal Highness the Prince 
Consort ' ; ' More Leaves from 
the Journal of our Life in the 
Highlands/ 192 ; Her Majesty's 
sympathetic interest in the books 
and bookmen of the epoch, 192. 

' Views and Reviews/ 172. 

' Vignettes in Rhyme/ 30. 

' Villette/ 47. 

' Virginians, The/ 45. 

' Virginibus Puerisque/ 60. 

' Vision of Saints, A,' 26. 

'Vita Nuova' (Martin's transla- 
tion), 191. 



' Vivian Grey/ 57. 
' Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of 
Love/ 37. 

' Waldenses, The/ 23- 

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 156. 

Ward, Mrs. Humphry, 74; trans- 
lated Amiel's ' Journal/ 189. 

Warren, Samuel. ' Passages from 
a Diary of a Late Physician,' 
began in Blackwood's Magazine ; 
' Ten Thousand a Year/ 70. 

Watson, William. Author of 
'Wordsworth's Grave/ 'Lach- 
rymae Musarum/ &c, 40. 

' Wearing of the Green, The/ 178. 

Webb, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney. ' The 
History of Trade Unionism/ 144, 

145- 

' Wedgwood, Josiah/ 154. 

' Wee Willie Winkie/ 40. 

Westminster Review, 49, 138, 145. 

' Westward Ho/ 54. 

Weyman, Stanley, 63. 

Whately, Richard. His 'Logic' 
and ' Rhetoric/ pre-Victorian ; 
Archbishop of Dublin, 159; 
' Chief Importance of the 
Logic'; 'Christian Evidences/ 
more popular once, 160. 

' White Ship, The/ 24. 

Wilberforce, Bishop, and Darwin, 

154- 

' Wilhelm Meister, 113. 

Wilson, John. Editor of B 'lack- 
wood' 's Magazine ; 'Recreations 
of Christopher North/ 187. 

' Window in Thrums, A/ 63. 

'Wind Voices/ 39. 

' Wit and Wisdom of Sidney Smith, 
The/ 187. 

' With a Donkey in the Cevennes/ 
59- 



23O 



Index 



Witness, The, 152. 

' Woman in White, The,' 69. 

'Women in France in the i8th 

Century,' 72. 
Women novelists abundantly 

flourished in Victorian era, 49. 
' Woodlanders, The,' 68. 
' Wood Magic/ 188. 
Wood, Mrs. Henry. * The Chan- 

nings ' and ' Mrs. Haliburton's 

Troubles ' her best novels ; 

' East Lynne ' the most popular, 

71. 

Woolmer, Thomas, 23. 

Wordsworth, William. His pre- 
judice ; best work written before 
the accession ; ' Lyrical Bal- 
lads' ; ' Laodamia ' ; Keble's eu- 
logy on ; laureate, 7 ; jeered at 
by Byron ; achieved fame in later 
years ; Arnold's estimate of, 18 ; 
Wordsworth Society; a vital 
force in the last decade; Ar- 



nold's 'Selections' only need 
be read to-day; no time now for 
'The Excursion,' 'The Pre- 
lude,' ' Ecclesiastical Sonnets ' 
or 'The Borderers,' 9; on the 
Brownings' marriage, 13. 

'Wordsworth's Grave,' 40. 

Wordsworth, Knight's biography 
of, 178. 

Wordsworth Society, The, 8, 9. 

' Wuthering Heights,' 47 ; Swin- 
burne's criticism of, 48. 

Yates, Edmund. Founded The 
World; his 'Autobiography' 
one of the best books of the 
kind ever issued, 188. 

' Yeast/ 54. 

' Yellowplush Papers, The/ 45. 

Yonge, Miss Charlotte, 74. 

' Young Duke, The,' 57. 

'Zanoni/ 56. 



231 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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